Pleasure as a Spiritual Path

June 11th, 2018

By Lissa Rankin

Guest writer for Wake Up World

I have mastered pain as a spiritual path. Throw conflict, trauma, and drama at me and I can alchemize it into spiritual gold. Sic a pit bull on me and I’ll milk it for all it’s worth, finding the fierce grace in every ounce of agony. Put me in the midst of people with life-threatening or chronic illness and I can help facilitate others through the most brutal physical challenges, supporting patients as they alchemize adversity into awakening. But pleasure as a spiritual path? I am in freakin’ kindergarten, people.

I realized this toward the end of 2017, after I endured three years of back-to-back traumas during the third Perfect Storm of my life. (They seem to come 12 years apart. I’m praying to sail through 12 years from now!) Trauma — I am a master. I have so many tools for moving through my victim story quickly, without spiritual bypassing, so I can efficiently transmute the most devastating losses and betrayals into soul lessons.

But then I met Olivier, the man I will marry on the Summer Solstice in an oceanfront wedding. And all of the sudden, the upper limit of my pleasure tolerance was right in my face. Wow! What if the benevolent Universe is conspiring to shower me with blessings, but I’m blocking the blessings because of my masochism pattern? Jeez. This was a huge wake-up call, to see this pattern in myself. (Note to self: Be gentle.)

CONTINUE READING:

Recommended articles by Lissa Rankin:

• The Unmistakable Link Between Unhealed Trauma and Physical Illness
• Satisfying Our Emotional Needs Without Being Codependent
• Relationships on the Spiritual Path
• How to Make Your Body Ripe for Miracles
• Are You “Spiritual But Not Religious?”
• 10 Fun Ways to Reduce Your Cortisol Levels
• 6 Stories To Make You Believe In The Power Of The Mind To Heal You
• 7 Tips For Finding Your Tribe
• Holding Space When Someone Is In Pain
• 10 Surprising Things That Trigger “Fight-Or-Flight”

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