We Deserve Pleasure

We Deserve Pleasure

The intention of this lesson is…

The intention of this lesson is…

to remind ourselves that we deserve to have pleasure be a part of our everyday life. Sometimes the narrative is that healing means we’re stuck “doing the hard work.” This practice invites us to ask: what if healing felt good? What if healing wasn’t just processing trauma and included processing our experiences of joy and pleasure? What if movement wasn’t just about releasing stress and was about finding pleasure inside of ourselves? to support you with understanding what gratitude is; give you an opportunity to experience a gratitude moment; and help you consider how you might cultivate your own gratitude practice.

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How to prepare

How to prepare

Before you begin…

Gather your materials:

– notebook

– writing materials

– water

Choose a physical location you feel comfortable to express yourself in. 

Manage your distractions, as you are able to:

– Consider what tends to distract you and minimize those distractions during this time. Consider turning off reminders and notifications on your devices; inform people of the time you need for this practice, close your door. etc.

Activity

Activity

When you feel ready to begin…

Get present:

– Take a few deep breaths in and out. 

– Remind yourself that whatever unfolds during this time is honorable.

Let’s begin

You might want to start this activity generally reflecting on what “pleasure” means to you. You can do this on your own by visualizing some activities, or feeling what happens in your body when you think about the word.

After you’ve had a moment to reflect more generally, you are invited to move through these prompts. To answer the questions, feel free to journal, meditate on them, talk out your answers in your phone voice recorder, or do whatever else feels good for you right now. 

  1. What is your relationship to the word pleasure? What does pleasure mean to you?
  2. How do you know you are experiencing pleasure?
  3. Is there a part of your life you would like to experience more pleasure in? Movement? Sex? Food? Rest?
  4. Write a list of activities that bring you pleasure or make you feel good. Try to include activities that you currently engage in, things that you used to enjoy that you no longer do (and perhaps you miss and want to revive) and activities that you’d like to try or experiment with. There’s no limit on how long your list should be – just write out what comes to mind until you feel like bringing the activity to a close. If it helps to put on a timer for a set period to free write all the activities that come up, that is an option. 

Regrounding Moment

Regrounding Moment

When your time is up, pause and take a few deep breaths. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth with some noise 2-3 times. Notice what it was like to explore the idea of pleasure. Take a moment to honor yourself for making time for this activity, and remind yourself that you deserve pleasure (you might do this by saying it out loud to yourself). 

An Invitation to Integrate

You are invited to consider taking on this pleasure practice each day for the next 7 days. You could put an activity for each day on your calendar to remind yourself. If you would like to do this, you should be specific with what the activity is, and think through some of these logistics: Where you will practice or do the activity? When will you do the activity? How will you do it? It might help to identify a trusted friend or ally who can check in with you and be your accountability partner for the week. You might spend some time now thinking through how you’d like this person to engage or communicate with you. For example, you might ask them to check in every day at a specific time to see if you have completed the activity you wanted to do.

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