Pleasure requires some stimulation, which is why the two get conflated — but stimulation can also numb, overwhelm, and shut us down. This short episode draws the line clearly, and shows why feeling comes back by first softening the places where we’ve learned to go quiet in order to cope.
Along the way: the pen-clicker in the meeting room — the same input that stabilizes one person and drives another wild — and permission for both your quiet chapters and your expansive ones.
“Both of them can be pleasurable, both of them can be highly integrated experiences — depending on where you are in your internal state.”
Ella Blackwood, The Pleasure Café
In this episode
- 0:00 — Welcome — stimulation vs pleasure
- 0:11 — Often conflated, not the same
- 1:34 — Going numb from too much stimulation
- 3:14 — Where have you locked up your ability to feel?
- 3:58 — Softening and releasing the numbness
- 5:33 — Two chapters of development: stillness and expansion
- 6:33 — From high stimulation to none — both can be pleasure
- 6:52 — The clicking pen: stimulation is personal
- 8:05 — A short, sweet closing thought
Practice for the day: notice how you are interacting with stimulation right now — is it feeling good, or is it time for less, or more?