How finding moments of pleasure in our daily lives is the fastest path to true connection

Below, Euphemia gives us some practical advice with 5 things that can help you, as Euphemia puts it, “feel more pleasure, more easily. Everyday.”

Take an extra 10 seconds before you jump in your car/on the bus/start your walk and pick a playlist that makes you feel good. If you’re feeling brave, sing along!

While you’re travelling rather than thinking about what you’re going to do next, take a minute to observe what you’re doing now - feel the sunshine (or the rain), the heat of your travel mug in your hands, listen to the wind (or the honking horns), smile at your barista and ask them how they are, actually listen to the answer - engage with your life fully, just for a few moments.

Newsflash, you live in a body. Give it a moment’s thought (and touch) and check-in from top to toe using your hands to physically scan your body, gently tapping it down. 

Take a second and listen to what your body is telling you throughout the day, ask, what can I do right now to feel even 10% more pleasure? Have a drink, put a jumper on/off, go take that bathroom break you’ve been putting off so you can write one more email. Ah, much better.

Always the most challenging part of making a shift or creating any habit, is actually starting. In Euphemia’s words, “We can have a puritanical relationship with the word practice, it has to be strict, it has to be regimented, it has to be an hour long…[Whichever practice you choose to bring more pleasure into your life], ask yourself why you’re doing it and then do it imperfectly, because the more that you do something, the more you identify as a person who does that kind of thing. And that builds your sense of depth, in being, ‘I’m a person who is committed to my pleasure’ for example, and so I’m constantly doing that for myself and for the sake of myself, but also for the sake of me being able to have more depth and ground to hold other people.”