Dinner with Peas.
“How many times do I have to do this to realize it’s foolish?”- Every one of us.
The hedonic treadmill is the idea that an individual’s level of happiness, after rising or falling in response to positive or negative life events, ultimately tends to move back toward where it was prior to these experiences.
We’ve all experienced happiness and sadness. From the joy of visiting an ice cream shop to crying at the dentist’s office.
And as life goes on, innumerable times we have and will laugh and cry. And what happens after?
It comes back.
No matter how ecstatic or miserable it gets, it becomes “normal”.
This “normal” is the set level of happiness. We forget it and pursue the next act.
We’ve pursued happiness.
We’ve pursued success.
We’ve pursued love.
What’s next?
Every being tends to want pleasure and avoid pain. This is the stimuli/response we show.
So we will continue to want pleasure/happiness and avoid pain/misery.
But how do we do that?
To pursue or not to pursue?
When a desire inspires within, we get two choices to pursue or not to pursue. And based on the type of action/ inaction, luck, and favorable environment, we get the result.
Now based on the output we say we are happy because we got what we wanted or we are sad because we did not get what we wanted.
However,
The concept of finding happiness in anything outside started to bore me.
How are you?
Take a step away from your family, friends, and work for a second.
How are you?
We get so used to the day-to-day that forget the beauty of the ordinary.
This never-ending process of chasing something to be happy is corrupted.
I have found myself in this cycle many times. and I do not intend to change it or change you.
I just want to see myself while in the pursuit. To do what I can do. With less unacknowledged emotion and more clarity and joy.
I have tendencies that make me want to indulge in this pursuit and I will continue to do so.
