The Best Feeling

I live in a society based on the pursuit of pleasure...of feeling good....of being comfortable.  I live in a time when everyone expects that he deserves life to be easy and good.  But, I have come to this conclusion, the best feelings, the deepest and most intense feelings are not derived from the search, pursuit or even achieving of pleasure.  The best feeling is the end of something that was uncomfortable, painful, hurtful  or scary.  I mean, simply put, when you finally get to use the bathroom when you have been waiting, it is a rush....a really good feeling.  When the clouds separate and the sun shines through, it is a celebration.  When a really hard circumstance is finally behind us, it's as if the world is brighter, cheerier and more amazing.  Not because something great happened, but because something uncomfortable ceased happening.
Those who pursue pleasure for pleasure's sake often wind up empty shells.  There is no substance to what they have lived their lives pursuing.  It's all just a "feeling".  But those who live well and face all kinds of trials and pains, learn that true pleasure comes each moment that the hard times abate or when someone comes along beside to help.  That though there's not more money, more kindness, more health......it is good enough just to be.  Not even just good, but amazingly wonderful.  I'll tell you that those who are really sick and find themselves constipated know that the sheer joy that comes from being able to go to the bathroom is cause for celebration.  Seriously.  And those who can't move by themselves find the moment of being able to make a chair move without assistance....indescribable.  Seek life.  Not pleasure.  Live well.  With great compassion.  With exuberance.  With abandon. 
Discomfort is the womb in which our greatest joy is formed.  We just don't know how wonderful it is  until it arrives.
grace to you.