The Big Idea

Are you stressed and unhappy? Are you feeling burned out? Anxious? Unmotivated? Do you feel you have too much to do in too little time? You are not alone. More and more of people struggle with a lack of pleasure in their daily lives and the illness that go along with stress.

Take a Pleasure Prescription! Psychologist and author Paul Pearsall is an expert on the relationship between pleasure, stress, and the immune system. According to him, it isn’t too much stress but too little joy that is killing people.

We know more than we think we know, Dr. Pearsall reassures us, about what is good and healthy for us. He invites us to embrace a new contentment, and his compelling lessons gleaned from science and an age-old wisdom light the way.

Why You Need This Book

This book shows how the latest research in physical and emotional health validates the Oceanic Way – the principles and practices of ancient Polynesian cultures. The five key components of this Way are patience, connection, pleasantness, modesty and tenderness.

The Pleasure of Patience

There is a mental illness called cyclothymia. It is a type of “impatience madness,” and it refers to a person who is in a constant state of flux between lively, “up” moods and feelings of depression.

Cyclothymia has been called “the fine madness,” a mood disorder that relates to a sense of failed perfectionism and under-development of the seventh sense resulting in lack of daily life pleasure.

SYMPTOMS OF CYCLOTHYMIA

1. Elevated self-esteem, accompanied by cynicism
2. Abundant energy to the point of agitation, followed by periods of complete fatigue and withdrawal
3. High productivity accompanied by periods of no motivation or direction
4. Distrust, discomfort and inability to receive compliments, perhaps because they serve as stimulants for even more effort
5. Impatience with others’ flaws and with one’s own
6. Excitability and quickness to anger
7. Strong convictions about the correctness and validity of their own views
8. Grandiosity to the point of poor judgment, accompanied by destructive impulsivity
9. Chaotic intimate personal and professional relationships
10. Disregard for personal health and safety, to the point of substance abuse, sexual promiscuity, reckless driving, and other life-threatening behaviors

PENNY FOR YOUR PATIENCE

On the first day, place three pennies in a pocket, which you will now call your “patience pocket.” Every time you become impatient or irritated with yourself or others, reach into the pocket, gently turn one of the pennies between your forefinger and thumb, and count ten breaths without taking your hand out of the pocket. Then, take one of the pennies from the pocket and give it to someone, or leave it where someone can find it.

At the end of each day, see how many pennies you have left. If you still have pennies in your “patience pocket,” save them and add them to three in your pocket the next day.

If, as the week draws to a close, you begin to jingle as you walk, congratulate yourself on developing equanimity, and celebrate by taking your pile of pennies and putting them in a charity container!