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Although Dr. Herbert Benson wrote a fascinating book called the Relaxation Response in which he outlined 6 steps to relax deeply, you have probably never heard of the Pleasure Response. You probably have not heard about it because I haven't told anyone about it yet-unless of course, someone else has been thinking the same thing and has already told you about it. Before I get into it, I have a question for you: Have you ever noticed that when you should do something but you don't really want to do it, you either force yourself to do it--if you're experiencing sufficient external or internal pressure-- or--if you can get away with it--you don't do it at all? Sooner or later, and more often sooner, you avoid the activity altogether. There are numerous things that we should do that would benefit us if we did them, but we just don't want to do them. Examples abound: balancing your check book, exercising, eating right, performing better at your job, and so on. The reason you don't want to do these things is because you link up pain to doing them. It is as easy to make the Pleasure Response work for you. All you have to do is link up pleasure to taking action. Of course, before you do this, please make sure that you should make this switch. Sometimes, the pain is a warning. For example, if you hate your job, you are being warned to do something that is closer to your own nature and to desist from being untrue to yourself. With that said, assuming that a switch will do you a world of good, how do you turn an "I should do it but I don't want to do it" into an "I want to do it and I want to do it now"? You change the associations in your mind. As an example, suppose that you hate to exercise. You know that your health and energy would benefit from it but you don't want to do it. The reason you don't want to do it is because you associate pain to the action. You think of the discomfort of getting sweaty, panting, feeling physical discomfort, looking foolish, putting up with ridicule, and so on. Yet you may have noticed that there are other people who love to exercise. In fact, they even pay to go to certain places where other people are exercising. What is happening inside them? They are operating on the Pleasure Response. In their minds, they envision their improved cardiovascular fitness, muscularity, weight loss, healthy physiology and the sheer joy of energetic movement. They imagine compliments and stares of admiration. The whole exercise phenomena is a thrill to them. Using your mental software program called your imagination, you can hold similar thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Run this program long enough and intensely enough and you'll be reaching for that tennis racquet or gym membership in no time. The Pleasure Response. Tap into it and you can live a much happier, productive, wealthier, and healthier life. Here, then, is a brief checklist to make the Pleasure Response work for you. 1. Identify what you ought to do but don't want to do. 2. Decide whether this is something that you should actually consider not doing at all. 3. If you decide it would be highly beneficial to do it, then make a list of all the painful mental associations you have with this activity. 4. Now write just the opposite response. 5. Run an imaginary scene in your mind where you are doing it and deriving a lot of pleasure. 6. You can amp up this scene with intensity and repetition. 7. You have now connected with the Pleasure Response.
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