Hello, and welcome back to Practicing Human, the podcast where every day we're getting

a little better at life.

I'm your host, Coria Miscara, and in today's episode we're going to talk about the difference

between relief and joy.

More to come on that in a moment, first let's settle in together with the sound of the bells.

Okay, so this episode is an invitation to explore where you might be mistaking relief for joy.

And by relief, I'm referring to those moments where we go from contraction to release, where

there's compression and then there's space, tension, ease.

That shift, that contrast, is inherently pleasurable.

It feels good to no longer be in the tension.

And since we just experienced something that we could describe as uncomfortable, we're

much more sensitized to anything that is not that, including neutral moments.

In a moment that doesn't necessarily have a positive affect to it, can be perceived

as pleasurable and enjoyable.

And this is a fine thing, I mean it's just a law of how we experience things.

But it can also get us into trouble when navigating our life, making certain decisions,

and often having the inquiry with myself, am I genuinely happy in this experience or

this moment or with this person or what I'm doing?

And the reason that can get tricky is because you may actually just be addicted to a cycle

of tension and relief and feeling those moments of relief and release and ease that you're

more sensitized to because there's a lot of tension in the experience.

And our nervous system, especially if we are used to that from, let's say, a very dynamic

...