Thank you, Larry. It's kind of paradoxical to write a thorough examination about something we take for granted, like pleasure. It made sense to write a whole book on it, aiming to support therapists and clients in the trenches of trauma work, but I'm not sure how to approach the topic with a wider audience... just like the finger pointing at the moon is not the moon, discussing pleasure logic is... what? fun? For this inner life nerd, yes!
I think this whole topic is vital today amid the societal trauma. It’s empowering to remember we control our focus. We give ourselves the experiences we choose. We can choose pleasure. It’s simple but critical given how many choices we make in even a single day.
I love this focus on pleasure, Alden. You do such a great job laying out what blocks us from pleasure and questions that help us find our way back. For me, it shows up in small moments—paying attention to how light hits the leaves on the trees, enjoying my morning coffee, or taking a moment to really look at my kids. Reading this made me think about how those moments feel like a different kind of mindfulness, or maybe even “sense foraging,” little pauses that pull me out of autopilot and back into the texture of being alive.
When I take the time to do that, the biggest shift I notice is emotional. Wonder and gratitude seem to bubble up on their own, and it changes everything about how the day feels. It’s also helped me notice which corners of my life bring energy and which drain it, and that awareness has shaped some of my bigger decisions too.
Oh Rachel! You have described this kind of pleasure so beautifully, my heart is overflowing. Just as you describe, I feel wonder and gratitude, and it changes everything about how I was feeling about posting this! I love your term “sense foraging” which exactly describes our capacity for orientation, connecting to the environment through the senses, discovering nourishment, with pleasure. Our intelligent biological systems naturally invite us out of “autopilot” so that we can harvest the wellbeing that heightens our creative discernment to move toward fulfillment… I’m learning that you, Rachel, have even more appetite for exploring complex interwoven philosophical and emotional holographics than I do, and the deeply intuitive perceptive skill for inviting us to share the view in your own writing. Thank you so much for commenting so generously on this piece. What a pleasure for me to have you in the conversation!
Oh Alden, thank you for this incredibly generous response. Your words mean so much, and I’m so grateful to be part of this conversation.
I can’t actually take credit for “sense foraging.” It’s a term from researcher Norman Farb, who describes it as a way of engaging the senses to pull us out of the brain’s default mode network and back into direct experience. I’ve always loved that idea—how intentionally noticing the world around us can quiet the mind’s constant hum and open space for wonder.
I love how you described it too, as a way of orienting and discovering nourishment through the senses. That feels exactly right.
I was preparing to reply and then I read this exchange and didn’t want to contaminate its beauty. As far as I’m concerned I too heard “sense foraging” from you, Rachel, not Norman, and it was all because of Alden’s lovely essay.
Thanks James, although I’m quite sure you always have important contributions to make. I really liked the simplicity and beauty of the idea of sense foraging. Glad you did too ◡̈
I can’t wait to read your book, Alden. Learning pleasure is a choice I can keep reinforcing has taken, hmm, about a thousand lifetimes. Pleasure isn’t a common topic in terms of everyday experience, ordinary life in my experience. But what a powerful binary choice: pleasure or pain/ dissatisfaction/grievance etc.
It ties in with my deliberate Christian deconstruction path, rewriting “God” from a distant, fearful puppet-master to our Source of consciousness, our ever-present internal Source of love and life itself. I’m realizing how our natural, soul-level state is love. Joy. So pleasure is a natural choice, a natural extension, of being aware of who we are. Out with original sin, in with original love from which pleasure emerges. I’m seeing we can learn and assume this awareness. Incorporate it into our thinking and awareness.
Your book will be a feast. Cannot wait to read it. I love this exploration.
Hi Chao, thanks for asking. Not a call for hedonism, that theory makes pleasure the ultimate goal in life, that is: seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. To my mind, pleasure is built into our intelligent biological systems as a guide to health and thriving. Why didn't I just say that? This is a vast topic. I've written a whole book about how the fresh experience of simple pleasure is necessary for trauma recovery and post trauma growth. While I'm working on getting it published, I thought it would be fun to explore the topic here...Hmmmm. So far, mostly crickets, except from our Write Hearted friends.
Alden... I love your explorations of Pleasure Logic.... that specific combination of both of those principles. For me, I see this immediate connection to my own meanderings into what the masculine and feminine energies are all about. The dominance of Logic as the Absolute, the most/only Valid way to know reality is totally connected to what the current Patriarchal system is all about. It's the shadow side of masculine energy when it's cut off from the Feminine, which connects us to Pleasure and Emotions.
The rise of "the feminine" is not frivolous in the least-- though pleasure and feminine are often both defined with that word. I think your work is far more important than you seem to realize. And I love seeing you stretch yourself and your writing into new avenues of play and pleasure.
Oh Linda. Thank you. You're exactly right about the masculine and feminine energies as reciprocal tensions in 'pleasure logic,' though I don't feel that I have the literary chops to make the case as beautifully as you do. I'm feeling my way into this work for the pleasure of it, the satisfying logic that where my interest, curiosity and desires take me, brings me closer to what I love and value. We're all making it up as we go along. Thanks so much for your encouragement.
Yes indeed... we're all making it up as we go along!! Cheers to that and also give ourselves a pat on the back for what it takes to live life that way. I'm so happy to encourage you and your explorations!!
Alden, this is such an interesting, thorough examination of something we all too often take for granted. I myself tend to overthink things when they don't go my way, yet moments of pleasure are soon forgotten, all but discounted. I wonder if that skewed view is common, or if it's seen only in "glass-is-half-empty" folks. In any event, you have me thinking about pleasure in an entirely new light. Well done!
Thank you, Larry. It's kind of paradoxical to write a thorough examination about something we take for granted, like pleasure. It made sense to write a whole book on it, aiming to support therapists and clients in the trenches of trauma work, but I'm not sure how to approach the topic with a wider audience... just like the finger pointing at the moon is not the moon, discussing pleasure logic is... what? fun? For this inner life nerd, yes!
I think this whole topic is vital today amid the societal trauma. It’s empowering to remember we control our focus. We give ourselves the experiences we choose. We can choose pleasure. It’s simple but critical given how many choices we make in even a single day.
I love this focus on pleasure, Alden. You do such a great job laying out what blocks us from pleasure and questions that help us find our way back. For me, it shows up in small moments—paying attention to how light hits the leaves on the trees, enjoying my morning coffee, or taking a moment to really look at my kids. Reading this made me think about how those moments feel like a different kind of mindfulness, or maybe even “sense foraging,” little pauses that pull me out of autopilot and back into the texture of being alive.
When I take the time to do that, the biggest shift I notice is emotional. Wonder and gratitude seem to bubble up on their own, and it changes everything about how the day feels. It’s also helped me notice which corners of my life bring energy and which drain it, and that awareness has shaped some of my bigger decisions too.
Oh Rachel! You have described this kind of pleasure so beautifully, my heart is overflowing. Just as you describe, I feel wonder and gratitude, and it changes everything about how I was feeling about posting this! I love your term “sense foraging” which exactly describes our capacity for orientation, connecting to the environment through the senses, discovering nourishment, with pleasure. Our intelligent biological systems naturally invite us out of “autopilot” so that we can harvest the wellbeing that heightens our creative discernment to move toward fulfillment… I’m learning that you, Rachel, have even more appetite for exploring complex interwoven philosophical and emotional holographics than I do, and the deeply intuitive perceptive skill for inviting us to share the view in your own writing. Thank you so much for commenting so generously on this piece. What a pleasure for me to have you in the conversation!
Oh Alden, thank you for this incredibly generous response. Your words mean so much, and I’m so grateful to be part of this conversation.
I can’t actually take credit for “sense foraging.” It’s a term from researcher Norman Farb, who describes it as a way of engaging the senses to pull us out of the brain’s default mode network and back into direct experience. I’ve always loved that idea—how intentionally noticing the world around us can quiet the mind’s constant hum and open space for wonder.
I love how you described it too, as a way of orienting and discovering nourishment through the senses. That feels exactly right.
I was preparing to reply and then I read this exchange and didn’t want to contaminate its beauty. As far as I’m concerned I too heard “sense foraging” from you, Rachel, not Norman, and it was all because of Alden’s lovely essay.
My senses are enlivened as a result.
Thank you, James. I know you were born a pleasure savant. Comes with being an Old Soul.
Thanks James, although I’m quite sure you always have important contributions to make. I really liked the simplicity and beauty of the idea of sense foraging. Glad you did too ◡̈
I can’t wait to read your book, Alden. Learning pleasure is a choice I can keep reinforcing has taken, hmm, about a thousand lifetimes. Pleasure isn’t a common topic in terms of everyday experience, ordinary life in my experience. But what a powerful binary choice: pleasure or pain/ dissatisfaction/grievance etc.
It ties in with my deliberate Christian deconstruction path, rewriting “God” from a distant, fearful puppet-master to our Source of consciousness, our ever-present internal Source of love and life itself. I’m realizing how our natural, soul-level state is love. Joy. So pleasure is a natural choice, a natural extension, of being aware of who we are. Out with original sin, in with original love from which pleasure emerges. I’m seeing we can learn and assume this awareness. Incorporate it into our thinking and awareness.
Your book will be a feast. Cannot wait to read it. I love this exploration.
A call for hedonism?
Hi Chao, thanks for asking. Not a call for hedonism, that theory makes pleasure the ultimate goal in life, that is: seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. To my mind, pleasure is built into our intelligent biological systems as a guide to health and thriving. Why didn't I just say that? This is a vast topic. I've written a whole book about how the fresh experience of simple pleasure is necessary for trauma recovery and post trauma growth. While I'm working on getting it published, I thought it would be fun to explore the topic here...Hmmmm. So far, mostly crickets, except from our Write Hearted friends.
Ah thanks for the explanation! Looking forward to reading more about how pleasure can teach us!
Alden... I love your explorations of Pleasure Logic.... that specific combination of both of those principles. For me, I see this immediate connection to my own meanderings into what the masculine and feminine energies are all about. The dominance of Logic as the Absolute, the most/only Valid way to know reality is totally connected to what the current Patriarchal system is all about. It's the shadow side of masculine energy when it's cut off from the Feminine, which connects us to Pleasure and Emotions.
The rise of "the feminine" is not frivolous in the least-- though pleasure and feminine are often both defined with that word. I think your work is far more important than you seem to realize. And I love seeing you stretch yourself and your writing into new avenues of play and pleasure.
Oh Linda. Thank you. You're exactly right about the masculine and feminine energies as reciprocal tensions in 'pleasure logic,' though I don't feel that I have the literary chops to make the case as beautifully as you do. I'm feeling my way into this work for the pleasure of it, the satisfying logic that where my interest, curiosity and desires take me, brings me closer to what I love and value. We're all making it up as we go along. Thanks so much for your encouragement.
Yes indeed... we're all making it up as we go along!! Cheers to that and also give ourselves a pat on the back for what it takes to live life that way. I'm so happy to encourage you and your explorations!!
Alden, this is such an interesting, thorough examination of something we all too often take for granted. I myself tend to overthink things when they don't go my way, yet moments of pleasure are soon forgotten, all but discounted. I wonder if that skewed view is common, or if it's seen only in "glass-is-half-empty" folks. In any event, you have me thinking about pleasure in an entirely new light. Well done!