Happiness

Over break, I started reading Gretchen Rubin's book, The Happiness Project. School started a couple of weeks ago, so book reading has ceased for now--except for the books I'm teaching, of course. My friend, Robin, sent me an interview Rubin did with Professor Sonja Lyubomirs on happiness, though, and that's made me want to get back to the book. Lyubomirs says in the interview that happiness is frequently fleeting because humans are so good at "hedonic adaptation." In other words, we get so used to some of the things that bring us pleasure and happiness that we simply adapt to them and stop feeling the pleasure they initially brought (and apparently this can happen as much with possessions as it does with things like lifestyle changes that bring initial happiness). So you buy that new car or you start dating that new guy, and at first, you're really happy...and then you adapt, and your happiness diminishes.

The trick, according to Lyubomirs is to find ways to slow hedonic adaptation down, and she suggests, "putting effort into appreciating the positive life change and/or introducing novelty, variety, and surprise into our daily lives." Novelty? Variety? Well, amen sister! Get onboard the New Thing Campaign. Now, I can't say that I ever heard the term hedonic adaptation before I read this interview, but I must have felt it in my life. I wonder now if it was the sense that new things made me happy but that the pleasure wore off over time that made me think that the perpetual, monthly pursuit of new things might be the antidote to my unhappiness. It has worked on some level, too. I am much happier now than I was before. The reasons for that are more complex than a few new adventures a month, of course, but I think change is the snowball that pushed downhill in the right conditions grows quickly.

In the interview, Rubin asks the good professor if there is anything in her life that has brought her happiness over time--anything she has not adapted to in her life. I just loved her answer: the view of the ocean from her house. She talks about how quickly we adapt to, say, a new chair or a new coat of paint on the walls, but that what we see out our window is in a perpetual state of change: leaves change color, the sun shines or doesn't shine, critters wander into view, flowers bloom and die. So many of us need a daily or weekly shot of nature to keep us running throughout the week, and while I know that the pursuit of nature is not all about novelty and warding off hedonic adaptation, I can see how some of it is. I think of the view of Lake Erie from the top of my sister's street, and how everyday, the lake is a different color. Interesting: just thinking that thought brought me a flash of happiness. Go ahead! Do something today to ward off hedonic adaptation in your life--even if it only involves enjoying a good view.

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