Source: https://medium.com/traitify/random-acts-of-kindness-are-good-for-your-health-31c52f7ad87f#.n8ka4kwzv
Some people love chocolate, others love music or bath
with foam, the gym or almonds in cinnamon. Everyone has his own “addictions”.
Do you know it? You start eating chocolate, one piece
of chocolate, but after 15 minutes you realize the package is empty?
At the beginning everything is good, but later on appears
the feeling of remorse and you feel
sick. But it is unnecessarily.
Of course we should follow common sense. Distraction in pleasures may be dangerous.
You know it.
Your favorite series, a new episode, you must watch it-
It is a light option. You haven’t got the
internet for a few days, when you have
it back you check the series and you see- for example 10 new episodes of your
favorite series. You start watching, you watch one episode, after that next and
next, you don’t remember about other important, often more important than the series
things. But you are lost and then it is dangerous.
In this case pleasure ceases to be pleasure, it starts
to be normal, of course only in your head.
After that you wake up from a beautiful dream you have
a huge remorse.
Research shows that better is when we reward ourselves with small pleasures, then our motivation is
bigger.
The feeling of guilt
is then completely unnecessary, because you give yourself a small gift.
You should remember about small pleasure after a hard
working day. It may be food, a good book, film, walk. Every one of us has his
own list of pleasures. What is on your list? My favorite gift for myself is
long, warm bath with foam, a good film,
listening to music, walking with my camera. I love it.
We should be clever hedonists because when we can’t
use pleasures we can get depression, frustration and generally only problems.
But when we will remember about small pleasures we
will have a great mood, health and many other benefits.
We should work hard and after that we should relax. It
is the best way to have a nice and balanced life.
Comments
We should have strict plan when we have time for work and when for ourselves, it is important to don't waste whole day on watching some tv series. I have my own rules, and I really try to watch at most 3 episodes of tv series in a whole week. And if I can I try to postpone it, for instance when I am planning holiday and I know that I will spent 3 hours in bus or plane, than I can watch movies.
However, I've learned that this kind of lifestyle can be very devastating for your mental health. Every now and then you need a break, some quality time. You've probably heard the proverb - all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy ;) There's no point in refusing any form of recreation - in fact, your productivity decreases if you don't make any breaks to relax.
Balance is the key - in your presentation you've mentioned hedonism, but I'd rather refer to epicureanism - you need pleasures in your life, even if sometimes you have to do something unpleasant in order to achieve greater happiness.
It may be a good motivation for you;)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvbyY7oMT2E
Your plan seems to be very good. I admire if you always follow the plan.
I think our problem is (for sure mine, I don't know how about you guys) that we can't balance it in a long term. I mean, when we have a deadline, or an exam or anything, we work / study all the time - all day, all night. And in a typical work-day we are wasting so much time – for example we are coming back home and we just spend time in Internet, doing stuff that is neither a pleasure nor anything productive. It would be so much better if we spend this time on something that really has a meaning for us and will really make us more relaxed! So in fact we are taking a "passive rest" without having fun out of it... What do you think about it, do you have the same?
I try to reward myself after completing some difficult task or after a hard day's work. It's usually a small snack or a moment for myself - watching a film, reading a book or drawing a few scribbles. But I can definitely relate to eating a whole package of chocolate. It's silly, but it happens sometimes.
But every now and then, not to often of course, I think it's good to have a "me day", when you focus on stuff you like - watch favourite series for as long as you want, play video games, eat your favourite food, etc. Sometimes, just sometimes, it's okay to completely let go for a day.
Then later i realise that I didn't do my English homework in the last moment :D.
You mentioned really very good point about to give out selfs small gift after hard works. and this is what i will try to do.
I do like watching serials so for sure this will be one of my small gift but only 1 episode ).
I'm addicted to these two things. I give myself gifts but I don’t have moderation. If I do something I do it in 100%. Balance is alien word to me. When I eat one piece of chocolate probably I will eat whole bar of chocolate and of course later I have remorse… on the other hand whan I going to the gym I spend all my free time there. It is crazy.
For me, watching a TV show it's not a waste of time if you enjoying it :)
I can also recommend you a book on the following topic called - The power of habit by Charles Duhigg. It in some terms analyses why we are living in one rhythm and it is difficult for us to change ourselves.
The most important for me are presents that were hand made - cookies that someone baked for me, birthday card that someone wrote or even just wishes because someone remembered about my birthday. If someone really care about the price tag it is showing only his/her level.
Somehow we can program our minds and bodies. Small pleasure after hard day can teach us regularity and make our lifes easy and nice. One of the worst feeling is - as you mentioned - feeling of guilt I ll try to treat myself as You recommended to never feel it again.