the idea of the "hedonic treadmill"....
By Joey322
@Joey322 (272)
United States
February 22, 2007 1:17pm CST
i have heard about this before, but i was reminded of it the other day. so, i thought it would be nice to pose this idea for discussion.
the idea is that we are all eqipped with a "happiness baseline". basically, no matter what we do in our lives and what happens to us, we will always have about the same level of happiness. apparently, the only things that change our happiness permanently is marriage and pets, but children, surprisingly don't. winning a million bucks doesn't even do it, b/c apparently, within a year or 2 lottery winners tend to fall back to their baseline happiness.
so, what do you think? are we destined to remain bubbly happy people or sullen sourpusses for life or do you think there's a way to change it for good, not just temporarily??
1 person likes this
1 response
@yanjiaren (9031)
•
23 Feb 07
i think we can change things..i know i get a bit frazzled..but i have concsiously tried to up my happiness baseline..cos for years i was a misery guts..though i always had a sense of humour and never shared that misery much..it is possible..it requires faith and will power..and looking at the end goal..iget despondent sometimes..but i am a very stubborn lady as my hubby puts it..being grateful also helps..i do find always everyday things to be grateful for..so even if i get tizzy..i can fall back into grateful mode..
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