In my newsletters you're going to hear a lot about pleasure as a revolutionary pathway towards radical living, where "pleasure" signals a state of deep contentment and rightness. Subscribe if you are looking for permission, inspiration and direction in connecting with yourself and creating a life defined by profound fulfillment, alignment, and authentic self-connection.
Whatchamacallit Challenge works just fine
|
My dearest crumpet, Before every Pleasure Challenge I wonder if I need to do a rebrand, because “pleasure” is such a loaded word and people are bound to misunderstand. (truly, this happens pretty much every time) You see, the Great Pleasure Challenge is thusly named because I’m a literal biscuit and because asking “is this in my pleasure” and then proceeding (or not, depending on your answer) is what actually happens. You see, the Pleasure Challenge isn’t about having more pleasure in your life (though you inevitably do). It’s actually about checking in with yourself to see if how you’re living, what you’re choosing, and what you’re doing are things you actually fucking want to do. Ta-daaaaaaa! Now there are some very specific reasons I use the word “pleasure” as opposed to anything else. Pleasure - as I define it - is the felt sense of contentment, ease, satisfaction, joy etc. Because it is a “felt sense” and happens on a body-level, pleasure serves as a useful tool to get out of our heads and out of our idea of what we should like or want for ourselves and others. And instead it gets us - and very quickly, mind you - into our authentic response and our true feelings. The spot where people get tripped up the most in the Challenge is in assuming they know what they like, want and need, and not bothering to check with what their body is telling them that they like, want or need in the present moment. So our brains can’t be trusted with curiosity. And our brains can’t be trusted to meet our needs for nurturing and nourishment, kindness, or emotional fulfillment. Our brains can’t be counted on to create living, breathing boundaries that are appropriate for what’s actually happening as opposed to how they think things should happen. We have to bypass the noggin, and tapping into that felt-sense of softness, that deep well of inner stillness and peace and that humming “yessss” is the best way I know of doing that. But if “pleasure” doesn’t really do it for you, fill in the name with these possible alternatives:
I mean, any of these would probably work and do a decent job of describing what the frick it’s all about. And possibly disabuse people from thinking that the Great Pleasure Challenge has anything at all to do with rose petals, or water beds, or mirrored ceilings. (Though maybe it will for you! I have no idea what your body has in store for you) Regardless, the essence is still the same. Any of these point to the core concept of the Challenge, which is to connect you to your yes, and have you honoring your no. I could change the name but I probably won’t as it is apparently in my pleasure to create extra work for myself by having to completely redefine commonly used words and swim against the current of hyper-puritanical systems that see sex everywhere (even when there is none). Lol. If you would like to join us for this next round of what-is-for-the-foreseeable-future-being-called-as The Great Pleasure Challenge you can right here: We’re starting March 9th. Loving all over you, Xoxo Amelia |
Amelia Lord
In my newsletters you're going to hear a lot about pleasure as a revolutionary pathway towards radical living, where "pleasure" signals a state of deep contentment and rightness. Subscribe if you are looking for permission, inspiration and direction in connecting with yourself and creating a life defined by profound fulfillment, alignment, and authentic self-connection.
My darling flesh-eating fish, Last night, I had the exact same dream twice. In both dreams, it was the day of my upcoming workshop—Foundations of Connection—and SO many people showed up. Like, WAY more than expected. Turns out, I wasn’t getting my online registration notifications and thought no one was coming. Instead, the room was packed—at least twice as many attendees as I’d planned for. Some faces were new (how did they even find me??), while others were people I barely knew. Which...
My darling flesh-eating fish Reader, Last night, I had the exact same dream twice. In both dreams, it was the day of my upcoming workshop—Foundations of Connection—and SO many people showed up. Like, WAY more than expected. Turns out, I wasn’t getting my online registration notifications and thought no one was coming. Instead, the room was packed—at least twice as many attendees as I’d planned for. Some faces were new (how did they even find me??), while others were people I barely knew....
Hello my darling sugarplum Reader! 🌞 The Winter Solstice has me thinking about the dark, the light, and everything in between—especially the messy growth we all experience. As the longest night of the year, it's also inherently hopeful. The sun will return tomorrow and from then on each day will be a moment longer. It's incremental, but assured. As the longest night passes, I find myself thinking about the long nights of this past year—2024 was a doozy, wasn’t it? There's some mysterious part...