Investigating pleasure and longing

One unusual bodily sensation I've had in recent months (since retreat) has been a deliciously interesting tension in my right jaw. It doesn't quite feel like pain. Often it feels like pleasure, but a distracting kind of pleasure. Distracting in a way that similar to the way sexual pleasure is distracting. If I give the right jaw attention, especially if I touch it lightly but awarely* with the tip of my finger, it becomes quite intense and seems to trigger associated pleasurable feelings in the back of my right throat and in my right abdomen. The pleasure has an element of longing to it, engendering some mental activity that wants the pleasure to go somewhere and reach some resolution.

The first few weeks I experienced this, I would periodically focus on the sensation, either at my desk at work, or while sitting in the quiet room at work (where I meditate most days). But I found this an unsatisfying experience--I'd enjoy the sensations, but at the same time I disliked the desire for resolution. That desire is never fulfilled.

Today I've been taking a different approach -- instead of experiencing the pleasure and longing at face value, I've been investigating it in fine detail, the way I'd investigate any other sensation in meditation. It takes a lot of discipline, because the pleasure is so intense that one wants to just enjoy it. I haven't had the quiet to really pursue this -- I've just done it at my desk and in the lunch room -- but I'm curious to see where it goes.

*When I talk about touching awarely, I mean allowing the pressure and angle of my touch to respond to the sensations in such a way that the sensations increase. Kind of a dance between fingertip and jaw.