How good does the first Pringle taste?  The second?  Chances are by the time you are on the 5th (or in my case 25th) the pleasure of that first taste has gone.  It turns out this is the same for all pleasures- they are fleeting and change as you experience them.

This was part of a talk given by Matthieu Ricard– A French molecular biologist turned Buddhist monk who has said “you can think your way to happiness.”

He describes the three steps towards a fulfilled life; pleasure, engagement and finally meaning. Pleasure as discussed has diminishing returns and pursued on its own results in the Hedonic Treadmill which is an exhausting dance to find the next high.

Engagement is often described as when time stands still.  Many of us have this outside of work, but the holy grail is to find it in as many of your waking hours as possible.

Finally meaning is literally defined as being involved in something larger than yourself.  Ricard argues that the perspective this provides gives you the resources to deal with the inevitable bumps in the road- he also points out that 10,000+ hours of meditation helps!

Almost all of my clients work on finding engagement and meaning in their lives.

I hope you are all flourishing- if not give me a call.

Ed