Start your own pleasure revolution through journaling

May 25

Pleasure.

Say it out loud: PLEASURE. Notice how it feels rolling off your tongue and what sensations you feel in your body when you say it.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear that word? A relaxing vacation in the mountains without another soul around... or perhaps a white sandy beach and the warm breeze gently blowing through your hair. The look and feel of a gorgeous pair of fine leather boots. Sex. Chocolate. Hot tea and a trashy romance novel. What’s your idea of pleasure?

Do you trust yourself with pleasure?

We’re taught not to trust ourselves with anything pleasurable, as though we need protection from ourselves. The unsolicited advice about what to eat, how to look and behave, what career to choose, the kinds of relationships to have, when and how to have sex, etc., start the moment we leave the womb.

Those heaping their unsolicited advice upon us probably think they’re helping, but as Anne Lamott said in her TED Talk: “Our help is often toxic. Help is the sunny side of control. Stop helping so much. Don’t get your help and goodness all over everybody.”

Pleasure and I had a toxic relationship for decades because of the stories I was told and sold (oh yeah, there is big money in telling people they shouldn’t trust themselves). We reconciled a few years ago, and now I trust myself, my body, and pleasure.

I thought I had to earn pleasure. It was something I could allow myself access to only if I was a “good girl.”

Now, after reconciling with pleasure, savoring a bar of dark chocolate is a “yes! yes!” instead of a “no-no” because it tastes damn good on my tongue and feels damn good in my belly. And I enjoy it any time I want.

Reclaim your relationship with pleasure through journaling

Our bodies and brains are built for pleasure! There’s a cocktail of chemicals in your beautiful brain that help you identify and seek out pleasure.

Pleasure helps to ground you. When you’re in tune with your senses during a pleasurable moment, you’re fully in the present.

And true pleasure is not to be confused with numbing out and distracting. Numbing and distracting with food, wine, weed, Netflix, etc., takes us out of the present moment and robs us of pleasure.

Is it time for you to look at your relationship with pleasure?

This month in our online AMP Tribe studio, we’re journaling our way to a pleasure revolution.

We’re examining old stories that block us from pleasure. Naming what we need to release in order to have access to more pleasure. Listening to what our bodies tell us about pleasure.

We’re making pleasure Spotify playlists (such as this one) and sharing them with one another. We’re bringing our favorite sweets to group journaling (cake for breakfast!), and wearing our most luxurious clothes because we feel good wearing them.

And we kicked it all off by repeating the following mantra out loud together:

“I give myself permission to experience radical, unconditional, wild, and raw pleasure... because I trust myself.”

7-min Journaling Exercise

I encourage you to save the pleasure mantra and say it often. Out loud. And to begin exploring and deepening your relationship with pleasure, grab your pen and journal and use the following journaling prompts: