Pleasure
Many people make resolutions for the New Year. If that word makes them nervous, they might say “aspirations” instead–resolutions can be broken, aspirations are just a goal. This year, I’ve decided to just focus on one word as my goal: pleasure.
No, I don’t mean hedonistic pleasure (though that can be lots of fun!). What I mean is the art of noticing all the myriad lovely things around us, giving all my senses a chance to experience the world. I’m afraid that much of the time, I’m so goal oriented that I move too fast to notice. Overall my belief is that I notice more than most, but I can definitely up my game.
So why specifically am I going to focus on pleasure? Speaking scientifically, dopamine is the neurotransmitter that is the “feel good” chemical. When we have just the right amount, we feel happy, joyful, content. Too little and we’ll be moody and irritable. Too much and we’ll have loads of energy (and high libido) but we’ll be anxious and unable to sleep, jumpy. Serotonin is a related neurotransmitter that relieves depression and anxiety, helping us to feel better. Low serotonin tends to mess with our sleep–giving us either frank insomnia or just not getting enough restful sleep. Too much serotonin can cause muscle tension, anxiety, sweating, diarrhea and even seizures or death (don’t worry, I’ve not seen this in more than 30 years in practice!).
There are lots of ways to get a dopamine “hit”. What does our society currently do to get lots of dopamine? Well, any addictive behavior works–gambling, constant perusal of social media hoping to gather lots of “likes”, that kind of thing. Overeating and alcohol addiction as well. Those things don’t really give us much serotonin; to improve serotonin, one can eat foods with lots of a precursor called tryptophane, and also make sure our gut is functioning well, as most of our serotonin gets produced in our gut. Exercise normalizes both dopamine and serotonin levels, as do meditation, qi gong and some yoga practices.
How does this all relate to pleasure? Well, if I’m getting my dopamine hits from noticing the rays of the sun through the trees, or the smell of my wonderful organic coffee in the morning, then maybe I’ll only check in on social media once or twice a day, not all day long. Maybe if I’m moving more and eating a healthy diet that I really LOVE, then I won’t need to look to some addictive behavior to get my neurotransmitters revved. (and remember, even some behaviors that on the surface appear healthy can become addictive if taken to extreme. I take care of lots of over-exercisers!).
The trick to success with this pleasure thing will just be mindfulness. Noticing each moment, not reviewing the past or thinking about the future. That doesn’t mean I will stop reviewing things that have occurred or that I’ll meander through life without a plan…..I’ll just do those tasks during scheduled times. NOT while walking my dogs in the predawn stillness, when I should be watching for the neighborhood fox and deer, or gazing at the moon through the trees. NOT while I’m enjoying a good meal, thankful for my farmer friends who supply me with all kinds of great food. And definitely NOT while I’m practicing qi gong or yoga, or meditating.
I think I’ll try keeping track–writing down several pleasurable things that happened each day, as a way of helping me stay focused. Accountability is a good thing. Maybe you’ll try it as well?
Qi gong trial: a few times a year, Lee Holden does a 5 day qi gong challenge: a class video each day for 5 days, free. If you’re considering trying qi gong, now’s a good time. And yes, if you sign up then his team has your email so they can try to sell you a subscription, but you can always unsubscribe if you don’t like it. I think you might be surprised at how you can feel at the end. Here’s a link.
Just for fun: found this photo in my files, from when I was on the Oz show. Left to right: David Perlmutter MD, yours truly, Mark Hyman MD, Susan Blum MD. It was fun to hang with those guys, and just look how young we look!