In her book, "Eat, Pray, Love," Elizabeth Gilbert talks about traveling to Italy to experience pleasure, a concept that she finds foreign. During her first few weeks in Rome, she struggles with coming to grips with what "pure pleasure" really is. Gilbert says that "pure pleasure is not my cultural paradigm," explaining that she grew up in a family of hard workers who were not given to idleness.

She gets it right when she says that Americans have difficulty relaxing "into sheer pleasure". This is true...at least of my family. Maybe this isn't true of other people. Sure, many of us talk about being "couch potatoes" all weekend watching a marathon of movies or reality shows. But even that is not true idleness. How long has it been since you've just sat and done absolutely nothing? Can you just sit quietly and listen to the soft in and out of your breathing?

One of my brothers has had lupus for more than 20 years. Lupus is an autoimmune disease that is lifelong and can be severe. He's been proactive in caring for himself, resulting in relatively good health. But that involves daily meditation -- a period of time in which he sits quietly and stills his mind. Thought by many to be a "cult" practice, meditation can, in fact, be an important contributor to a healthy mind and body.

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