Revolution is in the air, but this time it’s different.
Hedolism is not a reaction; it’s a realisation.

If you are anti-establishment you are effectively at war. If you see the establishment and all its dysfunction for what it is, can forgive it and move on – you are free.

If you long to be free, here are some ideas and principles to get you started…

1. Pleasure principled
By normal standards hedolists have excessive tastes in personal pleasure; they know how to receive life’s gifts in all it’s forms whether through massage or a good glass of wine. The long-suffering, knit-your-own-muesli days of holistic health are over – we’re burning the horse hair shirts that our complementary forefathers wore with pride.

2. Rub our temples
The hedolists are up for a proactive, pleasurably healthy life; they take responsibility for their health and don’t rely on an over-burdened public health service for a quick-fix when the effects of unconscious living kick in. They love their bodies – the temples of their souls - and look after them.

3. Food of love
They enjoy healthy food without being faddy or fussy. It’s Pareto’s 80/20 rule for the hedolists, where alcohol and coffee have a guilt-free place alongside well-researched dietary choices that are often delicious in their own right – not a struggle for ‘nutritional correctness’.

4. Easy does it
Hedolism is a path of least resistance – carefree, doing the best you can without guilt, worry and stress. “Life wasn’t meant to be a struggle” says Stuart Wilde, a seminal hedolist, author and inspiration to the movement. Positive being has replaced positive thinking for hedolists.

5. Love our mother
These people do green without guilt. Sure they compost, recycle and lift-share, but they don’t bust a gut or stress-out over it. They love their Mother Earth, take care of her and live responsibly, trusting that we have the means to repair and maintain this beautiful planet despite the ravages of greedy vested interests.

6. Wholly spiritual
Rejecting religion in favour of spirituality, hedolists have often had life-changing, life-enhancing and transformational experiences connected to a higher intelligence or consciousness beyond senses, thoughts and emotions. Some might call this higher power ‘God’, but hedolism rejects the vocabulary of formalised religious corporations promoting, as they do, control and fear.

7. Getting over indulgence
They are clear that hedolism is not about escapism, as hedonism is often portrayed. They love life and respect it, so cycles of addiction and dysfunctional behaviour are not indulged or tolerated; they are managed with personal development tools such as life coaching, counselling and NLP.

8. Going with the flow
Hedolists with their holistic understanding know that everything is connected and that what goes around comes around. When they take, they also give back, whether that’s through fair trade or tithing, they endeavour to serve ‘the flow’.

9. Power of attraction
Taking responsibility is not just a health issue for the hedolist generation. They realise they are ‘at cause’ in this life and that ‘thoughts are things’, so they’re careful not to blame and instead use the power of attraction to will into existence the world they desire.

10. New boundaries
For a hedolist, the boundaries between social and work life may be blurred. Following their bliss and living their dreams, this new breed may not even have a conventional job, but may well be well off. Purposefully downshifted lifestyles may figure, but they abhor poverty-consciousness as an unnatural burden to living a full-on life where being on duty has given way to being ‘on purpose’.

11. Love is the drug
Relationships are also unbounded for the hedolistic brothers and sisters. The institutions of work, marriage and mortgage are losing their appeal and needs are met in new ways. Romance still figures, as love is the drug of choice for hedolistic living. But co-dependency and drama is no longer useful to this group who recognise the need to love themselves before they can love another.

12. Mine’s a pint
There are more hedolisms, but as a hedolist myself, I need to end there and catch last orders down the pub. Watch this space. Actually, don’t watch this space, go do something you love instead. Enjoy!