I talk on my podcast this month with my microphone buddy, Allen Therisa, on the topic of guilty pleasures, which is something that is usually associated with our senses; the food we (want to) eat, what we drink and our mental or physical er, stimulations.
To hear what we get to say on this topic, check out the 2 Guys on Fitness podcast.
The concept of guilty pleasures, though it superficially may appear to be about substances or actions exterior to us, is actually about the control that we have of ourselves and our impulsive drives. It is also about how strongly our conscious thoughts are in control of our impulses and desires, as well as our underlying needs that can be more pronounced at certain times of our lives - when we are stressed, driven, desperate or over-stimulated, for example.
It is important to bear in mind in these kinds of discussions that life is not a test of endurance and that living a full life is not measured by the abstinences that we can demonstrate, if required to do so. What it is measured by is our ability to learn and to demonstrate through our lived experience that we can undertake balanced decision-making based on our determination of what we have learned from our past experiences.
We are, at the end of the day, all human and have, in most cases the same (potential) strengths and weaknesses and so face the same challenges in this regard.
We also have our own behavioural kinks, those distinct and characteristic desires that are unique to us as individuals and which are private to us (unless we choose to share them with others). And these kinks, occasionally colourful, silly or out of the ordinary (whatever the ordinary is, of course) are also what makes us the fascinating individuals that we are.
So we should celebrate our desires, weakness, strengths and kinks and we should place all of these in the context to our lived experiences. For, our lives are textured by a variety of experiences and, to a certain degree, somewhat out of our control. How we live our lives to the values that are important to us, is what characterises us as individuals and as men and women.
And in this context there are no guilty pleasures. Instead there are only the decisions that we make and the satisfaction that we find on a life journey that can be challenging and difficult, depending on what part of our lives we are in.
Or, to put it another way, there are always bigger issues to be concerned with, other than whether or not to eat a chocolate bar.
Julien