Many things in life give us pleasure. Some people may find pleasure only in activities that are rare, expensive, or large scale such as buying a new house, travelling to an exotic place, or eating caviar in an expensive restaurant. While this is not entirely wrong, it can create a bias against cheap, easily available or ordinary pleasures in life such as the feeling of warm sand between our toes at the beach, holding hands, talking to a grandparent, or taking a bath. In fact, we can get a lot of pleasure from things that may look minor in life. We don’t have to spend a lot of money or strive for pleasure. All we need to do is welcome the pleasure of existence rather than consumption.
 

To think about – or discuss with a friend

  • What does pleasure mean to you?
  • Why might people value some pleasures more than others? 
  • Can one learn to enjoy the small pleasures while pursuing the “big win”?
  • What implication might this have for how we approach gambling?