Encouragement Toward Pleasure at the Holidays -- Share your thoughts and experiences

    I wanted to start this thread as we are in the midst of the holiday season, which can bring up a mix of feelings for some. And I want to encourage everyone to move toward pleasure, and to find what feels best in how you chose to move through the holidays.


    Here is an excerpt from my newest blog post:


    "Most importantly is an active "turning toward pleasure" and what feels good and what is enjoyable. Does the experience of the color red, used so often during the holidays, have an enlivening feeling for you? Every year in the month of December many people actively prepare to celebrate Christmas, either as a "secularized" holiday or as a Christian holiday. I'm not on board with big spending to display status or wealth or buying more stuff for the sake of consumption. Instead, I am thinking about the importance of tuning into the body and tuning into the feelings of what makes us as humans enjoy life.


    As Epicureans we can choose what feels most pleasurable in this regard as we evaluate our choices and avoidances based on our internal guide of pleasure and pain. The tradition of preparing for Christmas is in a sense a kind of savoring of winter in the lead-up to the Winter Solstice, when we know that the sun will once again begin to move higher and days will begin to lengthen. Actively pursuing the "pleasures of Christmas" is a kind of antidote to the cold, cloudy, rainy or snowy weather and the short days. As Epicureans, we can chose to move through life in pursuit of pleasure year-round."


    The Epicurean Art of Taking Pleasure
    Some random musings today about pleasure, and the holiday season... As human beings we make choices based on both conscious and unconscio...
    epicureanphilosophyblog.blogspot.com


    **********


    And also, these questions, for anyone who would like to post responses:


    1. How are you enjoying the holidays? (you can share about what you are doing and what you are experiencing)


    2. Are you feeling a mix of emotions? (both pleasure and pain? and why might this be?)


    3. And any upcoming plans for pleasurable activities?


    I will go ahead and say something about myself, I would share that yesterday afternoon I had a very enjoyable experience at a coffeehouse. The sunshine was shining into the room and onto my table, and the place was decorated nicely with white strings of lights. And I felt very content as I had a chocolate chip muffin and was using the internet to read and research.


    At times I do feel a mix of emotions, since there are certain areas in my life in which I do not fully have a sense of self-sufficency, as well as being a bit deficient in friendships since I moved to a new city this year.


    Upcoming plans: I will be going to a birthday party next week for my great-niece, and I think it will be enjoyable. (Plus a few more events coming up also, which bring me great pleasure as I anticipate them).


    -- Savor - share - plan for more --


    And please share about yourself and any thoughts in response to this post :)

    I have had a few personal literary traditions of long standing about this time of year, dating from my high school reading. Some books are inextricably linked in my mind with the mood of December--Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, and Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes were usual re-reading for me in this time of year.







    New Years Eve I still read Ring out, wild bells from Tennyson's In Memoriam, and January is given over to Robert Burns. This December I have my own apartment again for the first time in ~4 years. Looking forward to that!

    My family and I are enjoying visiting our daughter and her boyfriend in Alaska. We're definitely experiencing our whitest and coldest Christmas ever. The solstice is quite meaningful up here as there are currently about 4 hours of daily daylight.


    Happy Solstice, all!

    This is also the time of the year for many mugs of Cinnamon Apple Spice tea, for port with dinner, and pipe tobacco on a cold walk, and for laying siege to the Latin language during long evenings indoors!

    Quote from Joshua

    episode of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

    Thank you, I click on above link and looks interesting, and good to watch later (for an after-dark watching, later in the day). And this all brings up the idea that we need a thread dedicated to recommended movies, etc, etc.

    Quote from Kalosyni

    favorite ice cream flavor

    If y'all ever find yourselves in NE Ohio, you owe it to yourself to go to Mitchell's Ice Cream for the Vegan Chocolate! Best @#$& chocolate ice cream - vegan or otherwise - anywhere!

    Mitchell's Homemade
    www.mitchellshomemade.com



    For holiday reading or viewing, Muppet Christmas Carol is/was a family tradition when kids were under the roof :)

    This Christmas after we ate and did present and people were just laughing and getting along when normally they are quite hateful, I felt very tranquil and even started falling sleep. Its wasnt the food or the presents it was just people allowing themselves to enjoy life. When I got back home I cleaned up and did some reorganization and packed some old stuff away. With as terrible of a year it has been for me I am ready for 2023, it is going to be the year of Epicurus for me.