An episode ends, come on, I watch one more... Hard to resist, there is such a suspense! I can afford this little pleasure, even if I go to bed later than planned…

Why do we fall for it so easily?

Because our brain is programmed to seek pleasure!

Pleasure directs our actions towards various biological needs, it fills gaps, relieves tension.

A bit like a drug… And this is where it can get complicated. As soon as the search for pleasure becomes too invasive, it takes us away from happiness.

Pleasure is provided by external stimuli and conditions, it is changeable, unstable and varies in intensity. If we think that to be happy, we must accumulate moments of pleasure, we are then dependent on these external stimuli, and being deprived of them can alter our sense of well-being.

“Pleasure is therefore not the enemy of happiness. Everything depends on the way it is lived. If it hinders inner freedom, it is an obstacle to happiness; if it is lived with perfect inner freedom, it adorns it without obscuring it.” Matthieu Ricard

Happiness can be enhanced by many pleasures, but it is above all an inner state, which does not depend only on external stimuli.