From the author: “Life is measured not by the number of breaths taken, but by the number of moments when happiness takes your breath away.” From the movie “Rules of Filming. Hitch Method" When was the last time you enjoyed life? How many portions of pleasure have you already received today? Did you know that every second of our life gives a lot of reasons for joy, but due to the peculiarities of our perception, we notice only a small fraction of the events happening around us? And we are even less inclined to pay attention to the events happening in ourselves. Often in pursuit of pleasant emotions, many people fall into the trap of the consumer theory imposed by advertising: “Pay money and you will be happy, and the more you pay, the more pleasure you will get.” . But the acquisition does not last long, since comparing oneself with “happier” owners and consumers makes one constantly suffer from envy and crave new consumption. Others believe that pleasure can only be obtained in certain situations for a very specific reason. The rest of the time they live “on autopilot”, repeating the same habitual actions day after day, because “they have to” and waiting for the time when they can finally relax and get their share of pleasure. As children, we rejoiced at the most seemingly insignificant occasions - a ladybug landing on our hand, multi-colored specks on an autumn leaf. What happened when we became adults? Why do we have less and less reasons for joy as we age? Pleasure is very closely related to desires. And a lot of things carry over into adulthood from childhood.1. Prohibition of wishing. As a child, my parents were often told “no”. To teach a child social norms is the task of parents, but at the same time they control the child and make him comfortable for themselves. If he wanted to, he reached out and they shook his hands. As a result, the child suppresses his desires or abandons them altogether. The less I want, the less disappointment.2. Prohibition of getting what you want. As a result of the same prohibitions, the child does not stop dreaming, but the dream does not develop into action. This also includes the parents’ phrase “this is not for you”, “where should we go”, etc. An impulse appears, but the energy that appears to fulfill the desire is clamped down. Or a person begins to live in an imaginary world.3. Prohibition of enjoying the desire received. When a child is not allowed to express his emotions. The result looks like fake Christmas tree decorations. They look like real ones, but there is no joy from them. That is, a person does some things that seem to give pleasure, but he does not experience joy or experiences it, but only for a very short time. The work of bringing more pleasure back into your life should begin with strengthening your ability to desire. Exercise 100 wishes. Get a notepad (or something you can carry with you and refer to frequently, like an iPad). Your task is to write 100 of your wishes into it. Write whatever comes to your mind without analyzing it. You may not be able to write all 100 wishes right away. Then set yourself up to look everywhere you go for wishes that you can add to your list. And then start fulfilling the desires on your list. You can somehow mark in a notepad what you have already accomplished and track your reaction. Set aside special time to make your desires come true and don’t forget to add to the list until it contains exactly 100 items. Include even the smallest and most fleeting desires - to eat ice cream, for example, or to kiss your husband. Another exercise: Forbidden desires. There is a lot of energy in our body that is blocked. One of these blocks is forbidden desires that you do not allow yourself or ignore. Perhaps they do not fit in with your self-image or are downright dangerous for you or the people around you. But this does not make them cease to exist deep in the subconscious. Containing or ignoring these desires takes a lot of energy and this situation...