A Pleasurable Resolution

Keep your vices

Keep your guilty pleasures

Let your new resolution be

to get rid of the guilt,

not the pleasure

isn't life difficult enough

and short enough

so why would we want to deprive ourselves of pleasure?

Yet,

guilt drives so many of us

and we will get caught up

in purging ourselves

of our

unacceptable behaviour

less controlled behaviour

childlike behaviour

human behaviour

purge ourselves for our failings,

we the priest, we the sinner

handing out our own penance.

Do not steal away from your life

instead,

add to your life

bring more and more richness to your life

let it be textured

let it be pleasurable

find as many things as you can to find pleasure in

these may be new activities

and fresh experiences

you have never before explored

make it your goal to free yourself

from guilt

from shame

make it a year for finding ways

to live more fully

to live more freely

of course,

we may not even have that many pleasures in our lives

as we currently exist

or the things that were once pleasurable

have lost their enjoyment

so adding pleasure to our lives

may require us to breach our defences

may require us to jump the fences

may require us to say

FUCK IT

to our own retinue of

self-created and borrowed

legalities and principles

that help us to justify avoiding

risk and change

and when it comes down to this

down to the nitty-gritty

it becomes a decision

over an exchange

of pleasures

the pleasure,

of the status quo

the comfort and convenience

of doing what we have always done

even if this no longer brings anything

that we might honour with the name pleasure

and

the possible pleasures

that we might discover

as we test and try

and experiment

with things we have never done before

or re-encountering things

that used to bring us

pleasure

imagine we resolved to enjoy our lives as much as possible

without feeling guilty for it

imagine that for the rest of your life

you increased the amount of pleasure in your life

without worrying about what anyone else thought

increasing your potential for pleasure

opening up opportunities for pleasure

dropping your resistances to unknown pleasures

day by day, year by year

would you ever regret that?