>>> Over my long years of professional experience I have come to see that my patients, by improving their appearance, hope to find happiness. Because of this, I have decided to write about this subject and present it, in chapters, to the readers of Transform Magazine.>>> Today we will analyze how to differentiate happiness from pleasure. I hope these lines will help you in your quest for happiness.
Happiness & satisfaction
From childhood we are aware of the tyranny of our desires. From the moment when we cry, asking for mother’s milk, and we are soothed when we are given it, we are aware of that feeling of satisfaction that causes us to confuse it with happiness.
To be able to achieve what we desire seems to alleviate our suffering and the tension that this produces. If we spend our life placating our desires, we will never achieve happiness. Quite simply because as soon as we satisfy the first desire, another one will appear in one form or another. It is a mistake to think that we will feel happy after obtaining something. We will only be temporarily comforted.
Happiness & pleasure
The very essence of pleasure is that it does not last. Pleasure is related to a beginning and an end. The strongest physical pleasure, an orgasm, is very short. It is the peak of tension, followed by deep relaxation. Any kind of pleasure can be defined as an outof- the-ordinary condition, with an increase of endorphins in the brain and sometimes more adrenalin in the body. Man tries to achieve the maximum moments of pleasure during the course of his, or her, life and often believes that the happiness level of his life is related to the number of moments of pleasure: how many orgasms, how many delicious meals, how many concerts, how many dances, how much travelling, etc…
We live in a time that is so centred on multiplying those moments that young people spend most of their time with earphones, listening to their favourite music. Many enter an unreal, digital world in front of a Playstation that permits them to live a virtual life that is not theirs. They spend the rest of the time sending text messages (SMS) on their mobile phone.
When they eat or drink, they prefer sweet, fizzy drinks like Coca Cola rather than water and soft food, like pasta, chips, hamburger buns, etc. It is obvious that the new generation is no happier than the previous one, quite the contrary.
The absence of motivation and ideals condemns the new generation to pay attention only to their pleasures and the way in which to achieve them, which usually means through money.
This is really the modern ideal. The modern western democracies have already attained all the freedom possible. They know that people can now think as they wish, speak, write, sing, film, criticize, dress and move as they wish. There is nothing more to fight for. The only thing remaining is what’s left once you have achieved all of the above : pleasure. The problem is that an excess of pleasure kills off the pleasure itself, and then more and more stimulation is needed in order to feel good.
Modern life consists of obtaining the maximum pleasure possible, whether physical, intellectual, emotional, in primitive or in higher forms. The fact is that daily life might seem to us to be easier, but the effort is not so much physical, but mental. People suffer from a mental overload that prevents them from being happy. Pleasure can be the enemy of happiness.
On the other hand, happiness is not the enemy of pleasure. Once we achieve a stable condition of happiness – based essentially on a feeling of internal peace and joy, and after several years of conscious efforts to attain this – we develop a capacity to be able to feel pleasure with a minimum of stimulation. Nature, the birds singing, contemplating the sky, the clouds, the sea, the children, these are situations that will bring us moments of intense pleasure and happiness. A dense, fluid pleasure that lives in the heart and in the flow of energy and emotion through our body.
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Editorial: Dr. Pier Albrecht, Dr. Pierre Albrecht, Dr. Pierjean Albrecht,
Dr. Pier Jean Albrecht, Dr. Pierre F. Albrecht, Dr. Pierre Frank Albrecht,
Dr. P. Frank Albrecht, Dr. Pierjean Frank Albrecht, Marbella Clinic