Indulging

I find that one of the most pleasurable things to do in life is to knowingly indulge in something I love.  Whether it's a tasty treat, shopping for something I don't need, blasting a song, or spending a free morning by myself, I feel an excitement when I indulge that pushes me to keep working and creating an even better future for myself.  Without these moments of indulging in my favorite things, there would be no point to all of my hard work and effort.  The feeling of pleasure I get when I treat myself to something I love is so satisfying and rewarding that I am willing and excited about working afterwards for my next moment of indulging.

Indulging is not about making bad, unhealthy, or stupid decisions, although they may sound that way.  It is simply about making a choice that makes me happy.  Ideally, I want every decision I make to be one that makes me happy; but sometimes, I consider it bad to do things that make me happy, like eat dessert for breakfast every morning.  In the movie Original Sin, Angelina Jolie's character asks the question "can pleasure ever be a sin?".  As I think about this question, I find myself wanting to follow the good feelings that pleasure brings about because, ultimately, good feelings lead to a happy life.  I simply have to come to know what pleases me, ensure that my pleasures will not give me a bad conscience, and move forward in life doing the things that please me the most.

Not everyone has the same pleasures, so some may value different things more than others, but one's taste is their taste.  Only that individual can decide whether something is good for their taste or bad for it.  You can describe why you love something more vividly as you experience more of it, but when you don't like something, there is no more experience of it and you can't describe what you don't necessarily like about it.  But that is the best part of life.  You just have to feel what makes you happiest and work hard in order to get the pleasure to indulge in your happiness.  These are often the great memories, but can also be the simple pleasures of life, such as a morning with just Vogue and coffee.  I love to indulge and I will never give up this essential aspect of life.

New York State Of Mind

This song just makes me so happy. I always feel in a much different state of mind when I'm in New York...a lovely feeling of community, history, and everything I could ever want within footsteps. I love being in different places, too, but it's nice to have songs like this that can almost take me back to that feeling of being in New York that I love so much when I can't physically be there in the near future.

My Soul is Full

I love listening to soul music, reading about soulful things, and expressing my soul.  I feel like my life is a continuous attempt to experience the world, and the only way to make sense of everything that happens is to express the things I feel deeply about.  At some moments, that expression comes in buying one kind of cheese over another or choosing which pair of sunglasses to wear, and sometimes, it takes a writing in my journal to understand what I want and to recenter myself.  Every experience has the potential to be an obstacle in my life if I do not accept it and adjust to its effects.  After time, obstacles can begin to feel like routines.  But routines can be the most pleasurable adventures.  I can get excited with every decision I make and be happy about the benefits each choice brings to my life.  Even if everything is not perfect, if I make each moment special, I can feel good in my days.  If I have served a purpose on this planet or changed something for the improvement of the future, I feel valuable.

I indulge in the pleasures of life so that I can continue to participate in it, for without the experience of pleasure, I would not work so hard to get more of it.  I will never have everything I want because, then, I would stop wanting things.  I never want to lose that feeling of excitement when I find something I want.  It's even more exciting when, after I put in the effort, am able to experience for myself the thing I had found and had to get.  This is the creation of a life.  Letting myself indulge in the things I work so hard to make a part of my life inspires me to keep working, keep creating, and keep the cycles of life in perpetual progression.  I am thankful for everyone and everything that I experience on a daily basis and I am thankful for having the time to relish in the satisfied spirit that fills my soul.