photo by MichaelKPhoto

A friend of mine has a repertoire of dinner questions that never fail to stir up animated conversations among his guests.  This is an example of one:

Do you want happiness or do you want pleasure?

I am told that happiness is a state of mind that is influenced by many things ranging from your relationships with others, with religion, with your aspirations to your genetic makeup.  Some factors are within your control, some are not.

Pleasure is far more intriguing to me.  A brief but blissful reaction:  30 seconds to an hour or two.  This is something you can create for yourself.

Happiness and her sidekick, Pleasure

Happiness is a lifelong journey filled with peaks, valleys and all kinds of pitfalls and pitstops in between.  While you are en route to your happiness, it is so important to take a moment to discover your own sources of pleasure in unexpected ways and in unexpected places.

To inspire you pleasure seekers, I have put together a Twelve Step Plan for Restless Creatives.  For those of you just joining us, here are steps 1 to 5:

1 Get over yourself

2 Get off the grid

3 Get local

4 Bring on color

5 Avoid vampires

Which brings us to today’s step.

#6 Read like a writer

I am forever doomed to be one of those people who read, rereads, questions, and rewrites everything on a page.  Determined to inhabit the creative moment of the author I am reading, so often wishing I had penned those sentences, this habit of mine has opened worlds not so ready to yield their secrets to the casual eye.

Do you want to be a better writer?  Read better writers.

Consider yourself a creative, not a consumer.  Big difference.  A restless creative will read to improve her craft, a consumer will read to be entertained.

A funny thing happens when you read like a writer.  You take pleasure in being a writer in everything you do.

What do I mean by that?

Being a writer in every moment is appreciating the stories that unfold before you.  The worlds behind the words, the interrupted narratives of people on their way to happiness.

Here’s an glimpse into a unique world by a writer of rare and uncensored skill:

“Oh Archie, you are funny,” said Maureen sadly, for she had always fancied Archie a bit but never more than a bit because of this strange way he had about him, always talking to Pakistanis and Caribbeans like he didn’t even notice and now he’d gone and married one and hadn’t even thought it worth mentioning what colour she was until the office dinner when she turned up black as anything and Maureen almost choked on her prawn cocktail.

This amazing rattling interior monologue bumbles on and on fueled by Maureen’s  peevish thoughts;  you can almost picture her frowning, distractedly folding her arms while gazing at him.  It is from Zadie Smith’s novel, White Teeth.

Take pleasure in the journey.

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