There's nothing wrong with enjoyment. If the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the grass is green ... Or if friends are gathering, catching up with each other's news, renewing bonds of friendship ... Or if a wonderful feast is set upon the table, with tasty dishes, good wine, interesting sauces, and dessert to follow ... On such days and at such times it would be wrong not to enjoy what those moments hold.

The problem comes when the anticipation outweighs the happy occasion itself. We can be so caught up with what it will be like, we can get so excited about it beforehand, that when the time comes it's a bit of a letdown. Excitement and anticipation can rob us of the pleasure we ought to have enjoyed. The problem, I think, is that excitement drags us out of the present moment and into the future. Or perhaps it drags the future into the present. This means I don't fully experience what this moment is holding. Whatever it is, this time now is overshadowed by some imagined future experience. And then, when that future occasion comes, it rarely measures up to the fictitious, imagined experience I had made up.

How do I know when I'm stealing my own future pleasure? I can detect that happening when I feel excited about something. Instead of experiencing this moment for whatever it is, excitement overshadows this moment. It desensitises me to whatever the present moment may hold for me, and detracts from whatever that future time might have held.

Excitement is a tangible psycho-somatic experience. I feel it in the body, and it takes hold of the mind with a sort of fetter, chaining the mind to something future. It's a form of reactivity. It's how I react when I become aware of some future pleasure. When excitement arises I need to bring in the therapy of Step 7 to treat it. That is, I need to experience the excitement, and yet hold it within the enhanced body sensitivity and the well-being of Steps 5 and 6, until it is calmed, until the emotional and mental stillness of Step 8 can arise. Then I can be fully present to this moment, and fully enjoy that future occasion as well.

So, I need to notice my bondage to Excitement when it arises, and treat it skilfully until I can be liberated from it.