The fleeting nature of sense pleasures

In the second chapter, Why We Fail at Being Happy, he discusses the common ways we all try to find happiness and why we so often fail.

The Experiment instructs me to listen to my favorite song over the next 24 hours. I will do this and report back.

Balancing Your Happiness Scale

In the first chapter, From Happiness to Bliss, we looked at the five levels of happiness... Numbness, pleasure, false happiness, everyday happiness and bliss. We all normally exist in some combination of these levels with Bliss being the ultimate goal to live in at least some of the time. Bliss is very different from the other states. In this experiment I will answer the following questions.

• Over the recent past approximately what percentage of your time, thoughts, or efforts have you spent pursuing numbness, pleasure, everyday happiness and bliss?

Well, it varies. In one part of the recent years there was a different combination than in other part. So, I will give an average over the past 2 years as a whole then break into 2 other parts that I will explain. Over the last 2 years I'd say 40% numbness, 40% pleasure, 10% everyday happiness and 10% bliss. Some people do not have an experience of Bliss. I, however, do. I will get bliss waves out of a state of everyday happiness without a depressing trough, however they don't last. When I am on my stabilizing medication my true, everyday happiness increases. Without it is a flat out 24/7 numbness with acts of pleasure seeking in the middle but they are not even successful due to the suffering. Nowadays, my balance would be 50% everyday happiness, 10% Bliss, 15% numbness and 25% pleasure. I feel just knowing these different states now have a classification makes me much more aware of them.

• Do you feel that you might be spending too much time in any one area, especially at the pleasure or numbness end of the scale? Does it feel you are allocating the right amount of time - for you - to each pursuit?

Overall, I feel that I am spending too much time in both the pleasure and numbness area. Sometimes I feel like if I don't know what to do about something I do nothing, so I need to change that. Also there are times I feel stuck in life and I will procrastinate. During all of these time I'm in pleasure and numbness states of happiness. I am not satisfied with the amount I'm spending in each area.

• Do I want to change the amount of time I spend in each area? What are the right amount of time or energy allocation for you?

Yes I do. Ultimately I'd love to spend as much time as possible in Bliss. I'd give it 35% I'm wondering if it's possible to spend time in everyday happiness while also being in pleasure. It seems like yes. I suppose pleasure "seeking" is different. So based on pleasure and not pleasure seeking I'd say 25%. 10% on numbness since that is not very productive. Lastly, 30% on everyday happiness. It's really hard to say. For now, I'd probably leave pleasure in about the same zone because of it's relation to the other numbers. I think that as time goes on and I become more and more aware of where I'm at everyday I will come up with a perfect combination. It might take me a while too to learn how to exist in Bliss. In life right now I'm generally satisfied. I'm able to be happy everyday, have time for pleasurable things and learn about Bliss at the same time!

My plan for this book, The Bliss Experiment, is to read one chapter about every 1-2 days, finishing within this month of September. I spent yesterday reading the preface and introduction. I will report later today on chapter one, starting the 28 day process. But first I'd like to just recap a little of what I've gathered. The preface talks much about Bliss, the what and the why. Which happens to be one of my favorite words. My definition of the word has always been "perfect happiness". In the authors context I understand Bliss can be described in many different ways. He is referring to it as this state that we all possess and have access to, a place of innate inner joy that is constant and unchangeable, a condition in which we are connected to the oneness of all creation. I've indicated this before as the Universal Subconscious Mind, albeit a little different. Every religion seems to describe this same state, only using different terminology. This part of book gives a brief idea of how to find and unearth Bliss, some notes on consciousness and what to expect and how to use the book as described in story, science, spirit and experiment. The next part is the introduction in which he gives a short detail of his life, reporting the ups and downs and how you don't need to endure all that suffering to find peace, that is just how his life went and how we all go through struggles to a higher or less degree. Part one is a short two pages that reminds us how we are all on the search for happiness, meaning and truth and how sometimes digging in the wrong place provides us with the best clues.