(Distinctions are subtleties of language that, when gotten, cause a shift in a belief, behavior, value or attitude.)

Pleasure is healthy, good for you, easy, natural, sustainable and integrated in with your day.

To medicate means that you’re doing things which give you an extreme high, zone you out, or help you escape from a reality you don’t like.

If you have incompletions or a weak personal foundation or things aren’t going well and you’re still having a great time, you’re probably medicating vs. having clean pleasure.

Example: Jeff kept saying how great things were and how much fun he was having playing golf, but meanwhile his green fees check bounced. There can’t be pleasure in the golf if there’s no money in the bank. Golf, for Jeff, is an escape which he thinks is pleasurable.

Copyright 1995 Steve Straus. All rights reserved.