Some random musings today about pleasure, and the holiday season... As human beings we make choices based on both conscious and unconscious motivations and on our internal conceptual construct of the world. We can have either a "default" (letting things happen as they may) or we can hold a stance focused toward consciously chosing -- such as the creation and contemplation of personal goals. And we can set for ourselves the goal of focusing more on what brings pleasure and joy, as well as noticing what brings a smile to our face as we interact with others. How our life unfolds depends on this: We are subject to the options we perceive when we make choices. But what affects the options that we perceive? I would say that positivity and a sense of competence (based on my reading of the book "Positivity" by Barbara Fredrickson -- this may need to be a future blog). Thinking further about positivity and competence...perhaps this is the meaning behind one of the four