There is a new perfume by Calvin Klein called "Endless Euphoria." What a concept—endless euphoria. I saw an ad for the perfume on a piece of paper that dropped out of a newspaper and I had to open the little door they have on those perfume ads and sniff it. The same ad included "Euphoria Gold" for men. Do you ever sniff those ads? Needless to say, the perfume, itself, did not induce euphoria. Not even Euphoria Gold. But it was pleasant to remember euphoric moments. I had fun thinking the word to myself. And we can hope for more euphoria if we wear this perfume, which causes us to think about it. We can hope for our own euphoria, and to induce it in others.
Euphoria—something we all like. We don’t feel it that often! But it is a feature of romance. When we are in the early stages of romance we think of that other person nearly the entire day, and just seeing them can induce euphoria, let alone a touch or sexual encounter. Our brain scanning studies show that when you look at a picture of your romantic partner it stirs parts of your brain that are active when a drug like cocaine induces euphoria. Strong stuff. Maybe that is why we feel addicted to the person we are in love with. Maybe that is why we all have pictures of the people we love on our cell phones. We can get a little burst of euphoria. Love and romance affects our lives in so many ways that we don’t notice.
But Endless Euphoria??? Do we really want THAT? No. There are other experiences that are less intense but just as pleasurable, and a great romance turns into those quieter pleasures that scientists call “attachment.” We also need to do the other things in life that are important, like forget about the romance/euphoria and tend to the business of a livelihood or education.
Still, I wish you moments of euphoria, and memories that are called up by your favorite fragrance.
Lucy 
