Listen Closely. I want to let you in on a big and very well kept health secret. Ready? Here it is. The active and deliberate pursuit of pleasure – and the ability to receive it – are essential ingredients in creating and maintaining optimal health. Please read that again. And take a moment to remember the last time you really soaked in something pleasurable. I know, I know. You think you’re too busy to experience pleasure. Or maybe the thought of pursuing pleasure as an important goal makes you feel guilty (the term guilty pleasure comes to mind immediately, right?). Here’s the deal: most of us were brought up to believe the “no pain, no gain” theory of health. Me, too. It’s ingrained in our culture.

Yep, I’m a huge proponent of sleep. I’m not joking – two nights in a row of only six or seven hours of the zzz’s leaves Christine a very broken, and more than willing to break something over your head, person. I’m more of a 8-to-9er. Caffeine only breaks my adrenals down further when I haven’t gotten enough sleep, so never mind trying to get good work outta me if my head didn’t stay on that pillow from 11pm-7:30am. That’s part of what this new wave feminism is getting at: women can work smarter if they get enough sleep, instead of working longer hours in order to fit into the ever elusive Boy’s Club. Ok, I can dig that. But Naomi Wolf, one of my favorite female voices of reason, makes a darn good point:

Rules. They really are so passé, aren’t they? Especially when it comes to really and truly living life to its fullest. I love all of the positive beauty spinning around that seems to step it up a notch every single day (yet don’t forget feeling negative or depressed is a necessary part of being human, and is extremely valid – don’t try and push it away). Reminders are a grand thing, especially when they remind you to get just a little bit closer to the value of you. On that note, I thoroughly enjoyed this video about the importance of fun (how dare they!) that a friend recently posted on Facebook. In case you didn’t take notes, I want to quickly outline their eight principles of fun, and add some of my own defining perspectives. This is one of the best video summations of what I have found over the past couple of years to be the necessary “rules” to actually enjoying life, work, and relationships.