How We Ever Lose “Pleasance?”

April 24, 2021 by Charlie Hedges − 0 Comments

“Make new deposits to the pleasant memory bank.
Let your life be a reason for others to live.” ― Somya Kedia

I was thinking just the other day, “How pleasant my life was.” It occurred to me then that the word pleasant seems to be a forgotten word in our common vocabularies. I like the word. Pleasant seems to connote a “calm sense of peace,” even while in the thrust of a marvelously understated happiness or joy.

Feeling just a bit cynical, it occurs to me that:

1. Happiness is more like a garbled sort of some (most likely) fabricated euphoria.
2. Joy… bores me, suppressing of the remarkable because a certain decorum of attitude may be required.

Pleasance Articulated

No. There is something very pleasant about pleasant. It’s a multi-street intersection: One can be a pleasant person or one might find oneself in a pleasant situation or with pleasant people. Or one might even find it extremely pleasant to be all alone.

Consider what it means to be (or be with) a pleasant person. I think of a confident, secure, enjoyable and amusing person that does not take offense easily. This person is more interested in the relationship that in “taking positions” or “making relevant points.” These are uncommonly “pleasant” people to be around. These people seem to be at peace with themselves.

A pleasant situation exudes a very similar type of vibe or energy, where one “just wants to be there.” Non-confrontational attitudes and acceptance rule in this place. There is an unusual sense of comfort and calm and peace.

Pleasance Realized in Cleveland

I know I keep using the same word to define the word itself, but I find a “homey peace” when I fee myself in the presence of pleasance.

For instance: Yesterday I was at my son’s rental house in Cleveland. I declined to go to the baseball game (since Austin had the night off) and elected to stay at home while others in the family went to the game. I sat alone in a beautifully designed craftsman home with two napping dogs, a computer to write with, and two bottles of sparkling water.

Remarkable! No conversations, no disruptions, no car, dinner delivered and snacks in the house. Just me, my thoughts, the peaceful dogs, plenty of food and a beautiful place to write.

It was indeed a pleasant day.

To cap off these brief thoughts, I am pondering what it might mean for me to be a pleasant person. How rare to find this sort of person that wants nothing, accepts oddities in people and society, and seeks only to “leave others alone or not interrupt their peculiar trains of thought.” And yet they remain an engaging conversationalist… more interested in you… and the wonder of life.

And You?

How did we ever forget the miracle of pleasance?

I believe the root of pleasance found is in peace in the midst of your too frequently agitated daily live. Things to do, places to be, and usually requiring acting according to a false self that is not wholly aligned with that authentic self haunting around longing for actualization.