This Can Be Stopped
Are you able to enjoy things without having your pleasure contaminated by worries? There are several kinds of disruptions that can diminish your pleasure.
Worries We Are Aware Of
Many of us may have the pleasure of having our work praised, enjoying an evening with friends, or watching our children perform at concerts or athletics. But as we have these experiences, we may be simultaneously worrying about something. In the past, this would happen to me. Watching my children open presents on Christmas morning, I would also, in the back of my mind, be worrying about an upcoming exam. (Yes, becoming a psychoanalyst involves exams even in middle age.) My pleasure was diluted. I was missing the unadulterated happiness that I could have experienced on that morning. (Since acquiring my Inner Guide, this doesn't happen anymore.)
Disturbances that We Aren't Aware Of
Our problems that don't have true solutions remain present out of our awareness, and create mental static because they are unresolved. Most of these chronic problems have arisen in childhood and have led to partial solutions, which become unhelpful character traits. For instance, a child with a bossy parent may respond with rebellion, depression, or acquiescence. In each case, these responses may generalize to many situations and lead to a habit of rebelling, acquiescing, or feeling chronically depressed. (A true solution to the problem of a bossy parent would be for the child to recognize that the parent is wrong, to roll with the punches, and perhaps to confront the parent at times, knowing that the time will come when he will be freed of this problem. But most children don't have the mental capacity to do this.)
Not only do unresolved problems, with their partial solutions, hamper one's ability to perform optimally; but they also, as mentioned above, create mental static. This may well be suppressed by the habitual unhelpful response (e.g., of rebellion, acquiescence or depression), but the mental static is nevertheless present and contributes to the dilution of pleasure.
Mental Pathways
Our minds are composed of thousands of mental pathways and, often, multiple pathways are active simultaneously. For me, on Christmas morning, one pathway comprised the feeling of happiness while another pathway comprised the feeling of worry. The feeling of happiness predominated because it was stimulated by the view of my children opening their presents; but because the feeling of worry was lurking in the background, it partially diluted my pleasure.
The Inner Guide
Now that I have acquired my Inner Guide, and have had it for a while, these problems no longer occur because my Inner Guide has worked, out of my awareness, to solve partial solutions and leave me with true solutions. Hence, I have no mental static. I am having so much unadulterated pleasure these days. If you would like to have this kind of pleasure, you will, because your Inner Guide is working to solve all of your problems. If you don't yet have an Inner Guide, you can get one, for free, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ4G9VIxS94
