Pleasure & Pain...What they do for us and how to use them

[NinjaFrodo]

Hi everybody,
As some people may know I've been working on my personal growth with the program for a few years now and it has lead to a persuit of many other diffrent sources in which to grow. I came accross some really intresting information which i figured would benefit alot of people and so here i am to share that information.

I have found with myself and many others when it comes to this lesson, people tend to feel a little overwhelmed...actually when you think of it when we face any change it can feel really overwhelming.

Why is that?

Well I'll tell you why but first you must understand that in life there are 2 basic things that motivate us. One is the fundamenal need to avoid pain and the other is to gain pleasure. This is a normal thing. Now typically we are more inclined to want to avoid the pain then to gain the pleasure.

Example: You see someone that you find attractive and you want to go and talk to them and hopefully get into a relationship that can bring great joy and happiness but...what-if they reject you? How would that make you feel?

Sound familiar? I know it does to me. How many times have we done this? I don't mean just with relationships...i'm talking about job opportunities, social events..etc. If you think about it...what we are doing is avoiding the immediate pain but we are missing out on the long term pleasure. Does that makes sense? Probabbly not. So why does it happen this way?

The key comes down to what is it that your focusing on. What do you think would happen if you kept your focus on gaining the pleasure? Forget about making mistakes or "failing". Lemme ask you...how many times would you allow your toddler to attempt to walk before you stopped them because they were "failing"?

Most of the times when we don't do something that we need to get done its usually because it is linked with pain...the pain could be that it takes us more energy, you might not do it right, it isn't something fun...etc. Now what we need to do is change that around. But how do we do that?

1)You need to realize how not changing your behavior is going to be more painful than changing it.

2)How changing will bring you measurable and immediate pleasure.

How do you feel if you don't do something that you know you need to be doing? How do you feel when you accomplish something that you needed to do dispite how you felt about it?

So when your faced with something you know you need to do or that corresponds to a goal you want to accomplish then you need to ask yourself...and do it honestly. If you need to write it down then do it (I highly recommend it)

1)What pain have you associated with this thing that has kept you from following through?

2)List the pleasures you were able to get from not following through.

3)Describe what it will cost you (mentally/emotionally/physically) if you don't follow through. What will you miss out on? What will you lose?

and 4)What are all the benefits you'll gain by taking action? How will it enhance your life? How will it create greater joy, happiness, success, freedom, or pride?

After you do that you need to take action right away. You've just filled yourself with motivaional energy...don't let it go to waste!!!

[BookOfPsalms]

excellent, Mike. Thanks.