The Pleasure Reports are notes on the pleasure I found in my life each week. This purposeful focus on pleasure began in 2010. I was working with countless managers who were working themselves sick, our aim was to establish new ways of working that would not make them sick. And then realising that whilst ‘not sick’ might have been a good aim to start with, it was a terrible one to stop at. How about ways of working that are a pleasure?!  And so the study of pleasure began with The Pleasure Reports – a weekly record of -how many things were a pleasure -how many a pain and -what the pain to pleasure ratio was that week. I thought I’d do it for one year and ended up carrying on for three. You can read the whole story of how it began here and here.

Fifty nine pleasure points

12:1 pleasure to pain ratio

The Pleasure

Fifty nine. That’s on the low side

But there were a few of the pleasures this week that were so wonderful, I’d have been happy with them alone

A selection of the pleasures

A Welcome

I visited a new bunch of people this week

And the Welcome I got was so welcoming that I’m giving it a capital W

The quality of attention and the sense of complete unconditional acceptance…no …it was more than acceptance

It was a welcome

And they were completely present, not half of their attention off elsewhere attending to something else

That is so very rare in my world these days

Oh my

That was gorgeous

A Casserole

I visited my wee man, he’s away at University

And I took a casserole

Ha!

I turned into traditional Mama

Ha!

This is a new persona that has shown up unexpectedly

The day before the visit I suddenly found myself thinking…yes, chicken and veg…that’s what I’ll put in the casserole

Whilst the other parts of me were turning to each other in surprise asking ‘the casserole……what casserole?’

And there was the (new and unrecognisable) trad Mama, in the car going to the supermarket for the ingredients and spending the evening cooking

Whilst the other parts looked curiously on

I quite enjoyed it

We’ve decided to make it a regular thing

Once a month, I’ll bring a casserole, he’ll supply the wine

Nice…I like it

Bentlily poetry

Oh beautiful is she

The art of noticing life

In a poem a day

Completely perfect for a life of pleasure

To notice the moments of life and gaze on them, till you feel them even more

This from the Valentine’s day poem, The cinnamon drink

‘promise me you’ll tell them

it was the rumble of daily life

that made me flush

with love for you’

see the whole poem at bentlily

The Pain

Sleep is fitful

It’s not surprising, with all the change and mourning, and letting go

But it leaves me with less energy for the practicalities, the organising of changes and letting go

This too will pass

How about you?

How’s your week been?

I’d love to hear

Come and share all in the comments

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