Are You A Pleasure Junky?
Author: Kim Olver

What is a pleasure junky, you ask? A pleasure junky is a person
always seeking happiness in short-term, feel good ways. A
pleasure junky would choose junk food over good health, casual
sex over a committed relationship and impulse spending over
long-term saving. A pleasure junky wants to feel good most of
the time and looks for things outside him or herself to supply
those good feelings.

Look at these three questions to see if you would be considered
a pleasure junky:

* Do you find yourself making long-term goals and then
sabotaging them by not taking the required action to accomplish
them? An example would be deciding you want to pay off your
credit cards on an accelerated plan but you keep buying things
you don't need and make payments substantially less than you had
planned. Another example might be you have a diet plan that
includes only eating when you are hungry. However, you find
yourself often making plans with friends to go out to eat and
you find yourself snacking when you are bored, lonely or anxious
or as a reward to yourself.

* Do you find yourself frequently needing to reward yourself in
order to feel good about yourself? Do you often do things you
have told yourself you wouldn't do? For example, do you reward
yourself with a new outfit for weight loss when you promised
yourself you would wait until you went down two sizes instead of
one? Do you reward yourself with a hot fudge sundae when you
have lost a certain amount of weight?

* Do you find yourself often seeking pleasure in things outside
yourself? Do you look toward people, places, things and
accomplishments to make you truly happy? Are you waiting for the
right relationship, your children to be grown, your advance
degree, your house to be paid off or your retirement to be
happy? Do you drag yourself through the week waiting for the
pleasures of the weekend?

People who are looking to be truly happy have to complete the
job from the inside out. Authentic happiness does not come from
people, things and accomplishments. Happiness comes from how you
are in the world. Happiness is generated from your core when you
live in the moment by being fully present, are grateful for what
you have and have the desire and ability to find the gift or the
lesson in all things. That is the key to being authentically
happy.

You will never achieve true happiness by being a pleasure
junky. Let's look at each behavior individually.

* Live in the Moment: Much is said about living in the moment
but how do you actually do it? You need to become conscious,
guarding against thoughts of the past or future and constantly
bring yourself back to the current moment, which is all there
really is of reality anyway. Most of us waste our "now" moments
regretting or reminiscing about the past or worrying or planning
for the future. When you engage in those activities, you miss
the only real moment you have—right now.

* Live in Gratitude: No matter what is happening in your life,
living in gratitude is possible. As my friend says, "Any day
above ground is a good day." As long as you are still here, you
can find things to be grateful for. Start with being grateful
for the air you breathe, the sunshine on your face, the rain
that nourishes growth, your shelter that protects you from the
elements. Once you start with the little things, you can easily
generate to the bigger things. Instead of being upset about the
money you owe, be grateful you have a credit line to have it
available to you. Instead of being angry with a friend, be
thankful to have friends in your life. Instead of wishing for a
better job, be grateful to have the one you've got.

* Find the Lesson or Gift: No matter what happens to you in
your life, if you have the mind to look for it, you can find a
lesson or a gift. Growth comes from pain. What terrible thing
has happened to you in your life and what was the positive gain
you received from it? My husband died at 37 years-old but I had
the gift of being able to say goodbye and my children had the
gift of his time after he stopped working. You can find the
positive in all situations if you have the mind to seek it.

In order to find authentic happiness from the inside-out, you
must be willing to avoid some moments of pleasure. You need to
monitor yourself to isure you are living in the moment, living
in gratitude and find the lesson or the gift. Recognize that
happiness is not elusive at all. It lives inside of you and you
can have access to it whenever you want. You just need to accept
that it is there. The process of Inside Out Empowerment can show
you how.


About The Author: Kim Olver is a life coach and public speaker
who has a graduate degree in counseling, is a National Certified
Counselor and a licensed professional counselor in two states.
She helps people get along better with the important people in
their lives. For more info: http://www.therelationshipcenter.biz