On Desire vs Enjoyment

Desire relates to the pursuit of enjoyment. Whether this enjoyment is actually obtained or not and at what price is another matter altogether.

Enjoyment on the other hand is the ability to be here and now and feel  the warmth of the bliss and feel lucky and appreciative of that gift. There is no desire in the experience of enjoyment.

Desire keeps us on the wheel of samsara and suffering, while enjoyment liberates us. Desire gets us hooked on something that is not but we want it to be, while enjoyment brings us on what we have right now. The trick though at this point not to develop attachment over that enjoyment but simply enjoy it as if it was for the last time.

Desire fundamentally means that we wish and try to be happy , while enjoyment is actually having that happiness experience. Knowing that this happiness experience is something temporary and can not possibly cling to it like we are going to lose it.

Exploring the differences even further:

Desire instigates the seeking process which triggers a stress reaction about the future outcome of its fulfillment. It boosts dopamine levels while suppress serotonin levels. Enjoyment on the other hand does not trigger a stress reaction, leaving no space for hope or fear. The fulfillment is present and has boosted both the excitement of dopamine as well as the fulfillment of serotonin levels.

Although desire implies wanting something, that may not be true wanting and we may not be willing or able to truly enjoy and be content with what we desire. On the other hand enjoyment leaves no doubt about the fulfillment while aligning the acceptance, the gratitude, the willingness & the ability to enjoy it.

In desire the focus is either on the future expectation or a rememberance of a past memory or association but never the present, while in enjoyment the focus is always in the present.

Desires – no matter how they present themselves – are in fact partial and prejudiced projections which either exclude some components of the overall “package” of the desired outcome or ignore its consequences.Instead when when we decide to enjoy an experience, there is no filter that leaves out unwanted components (although we may in fact blind ourselves to potential consequences of the present outcome, not yet manifested or recognized)

We may choose to cover-up our inability to feel enjoyment by projecting desire which most likely does not even need to manifest into reality, thereby providing us with a safeguard against fulfillment. Instead in feeling enjoyment, we by default are required to respond to the occasion and confront reality as is and embrace it.

Feeling enjoyment requires accepting and loving ourselves and it liberates us from any related past or future desires creating more enjoyment and less seeking of desire. Desire though does not require any accepting or loving ourselves in order to have them because there are usually unmanifested, so we are “safe” within the limits of desire. Crossing those limits into an unchartered territory of enjoyment frequently triggers guilt and unworthiness of ourselves to deserve that enjoyment.

Desires filter out  any unwanted pain/discomfort while focus only on the edited, pleasant part of the desire, which distorts their manifestation, distorts our perception of them, our reactions to them and even more importantly our ability to recognize and appreciate pure unedited enjoyment. Experiencing enjoyment and pleasure without filtering out possible present or future pain, makes us wisely accepting and gratefully prepared, able & willing to confront pain in life with fearlessness which transmutates its effect on us and our reaction to it.