{"id":5865,"date":"2013-12-06T18:32:10","date_gmt":"2013-12-06T23:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/?p=5865"},"modified":"2013-12-06T18:32:10","modified_gmt":"2013-12-06T23:32:10","slug":"simple-pleasures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/12\/simple-pleasures.html","title":{"rendered":"Simple Pleasures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a id=\"overlay_image_anchor_227488\" href=\"http:\/\/www.everystockphoto.com\/photo.php?imageId=227488&amp;searchId=7168c799ca2c074b96f8bf4e3081b22b&amp;npos=5\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"overlay_image_227488\" title=\"Bathroom\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/Water_interior_light_227488_m.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Sitting crossed legged under the freshly changed turquoise cotton sheets. Just out of the shower in which I indulged in Trader Joe&#8217;s citrus shampoo, conditioner and body wash to ease away the remnants of the\u00a0 lesions from the shingles virus that has been a moment to moment presence in my life for more than a week. Coconut oil slathered on my face to heal my skin.\u00a0 In pj&#8217;s at 6 pm. Listening to Funky Friday\u00a0on WXPN, puts a wistful smile on my face, as the song <strong><em>Free Nelson Mandela<\/em> <\/strong>is playing in honor of the man whose life and death has had such a powerful impact on the world and whose legacy will live on in the hearts of those who work for peace and reconciliation.<\/p>\n<p>I have spent the majority of the day in bed and will likely do so tomorrow and Sunday; out of character for this over-achieving, recovering Type A workaholic.\u00a0 It feels weird but good to do not a whole lot. I have been writing and reading though, dozing here and there. I&#8217;m not much a television watcher, except at the gym. This to me, is leisure. Although I am a people person, it has felt more comfortable to be in relative solitude, although not isolation.<\/p>\n<p>Eating lightly, I am sipping peppermint tea and made a concoction of chocolate chai and coconut milk today. Sleep has been another welcome &#8216;indulgence&#8217; since it was something I did only out of necessity up until shingles kicked my tush. What is also helping in that pursuit is that I bought room darkening chocolate brown curtains. That way the beams aren&#8217;t barraging me with their brightness and I can ease into my morning.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I am honoring my needs for a welcome change and asking myself that if I don&#8217;t absolutely HAVE to do something at the moment, do I really want to?<\/p>\n<p>Switched the station to sweet holiday music that at the moment is\u00a0 ear-tickling pennywhistle and flute. I am contemplating the rest of this season that is highlighted with activity and although I am blessed to have many invitations to be with beloved friends and family between now and the New Year, I am choosing one by one which ones I have the energy to attend. In the past, I would have, \u00a0whirlwind style made an appearance at all of them, with little regard for how I felt. In that way, I can fully engage in pleasure and not overdo it. It&#8217;s kind of like having an entire plate of cookies in front of you that look really decadently delicious and you want to sample them all. It may begin with a nibble and then turn into a gobble and the next thing you know, you have a tummy ache. Pleasure gave way to pain.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"overlay_image_anchor_1576397\" href=\"http:\/\/www.everystockphoto.com\/photo.php?imageId=1576397&amp;searchId=c78b0b8ceb9787a213c5275047752910&amp;npos=10\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"overlay_image_1576397\" title=\"christmas cookies\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/christmas_cookies_truffle_1576397_m.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I am grateful that (even as a result of the illness) I have given myself the gift of enjoying simple pleasures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Sitting crossed legged under the freshly changed turquoise cotton sheets. Just out of the shower in which I indulged in Trader Joe&#8217;s citrus shampoo, conditioner and body wash to ease away the remnants of the\u00a0 lesions from the shingles virus that has been a moment to moment presence in my life for more than&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,12,19,22,811,1176,14,4,16,7,18],"tags":[3539,966,3369,3373,743,62],"class_list":["post-5865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attracting-what-you-desire","category-bliss-kiss-for-your-weekend","category-empowerment","category-healing","category-health","category-holidays","category-how-to-invite-bliss","category-inspiration","category-my-personal-bliss","category-re-creating-your-life","category-wellness","tag-funky-friday","tag-nelson-mandela","tag-new-year","tag-trader-joes","tag-type-a","tag-wxpn"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Simple Pleasures - The Bliss Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/12\/simple-pleasures.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Simple Pleasures - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; Sitting crossed legged under the freshly changed turquoise cotton sheets. Just out of the shower in which I indulged in Trader Joe&#8217;s citrus shampoo, conditioner and body wash to ease away the remnants of the\u00a0 lesions from the shingles virus that has been a moment to moment presence in my life for more than&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/12\/simple-pleasures.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-12-06T23:32:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/Water_interior_light_227488_m.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EdieWeinstein1\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Simple Pleasures - The Bliss Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/12\/simple-pleasures.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Simple Pleasures - The Bliss Blog","og_description":"&nbsp; Sitting crossed legged under the freshly changed turquoise cotton sheets. Just out of the shower in which I indulged in Trader Joe&#8217;s citrus shampoo, conditioner and body wash to ease away the remnants of the\u00a0 lesions from the shingles virus that has been a moment to moment presence in my life for more than&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/12\/simple-pleasures.html","og_site_name":"The Bliss Blog","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga","article_published_time":"2013-12-06T23:32:10+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/Water_interior_light_227488_m.jpg"}],"author":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EdieWeinstein1","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/12\/simple-pleasures.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/12\/simple-pleasures.html","name":"Simple Pleasures - The Bliss Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/12\/simple-pleasures.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/12\/simple-pleasures.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/Water_interior_light_227488_m.jpg","datePublished":"2013-12-06T23:32:10+00:00","dateModified":"2013-12-06T23:32:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/12\/simple-pleasures.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/12\/simple-pleasures.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/12\/simple-pleasures.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/Water_interior_light_227488_m.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com\/Water_interior_light_227488_m.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/12\/simple-pleasures.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Simple Pleasures"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/","name":"The Bliss Blog","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Edie Weinstein","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386","name":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","caption":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW"},"description":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW is a colorfully creative journalist, inspiring transformational speaker, licensed social worker, interfaith minister, editor, radio host, BLISS coach, event producer, Cosmic Concierge, the author of The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming The Ordinary Into The Extraordinary and co-author of Embraced By the Divine: The Emerging Woman\u2019s Gateway to Power, Passion and Purpose. She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. 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