When Is ENOUGH ENOUGH?

 

HOW often have you splurged on a new phone, a new wristwatch, OR maybe a special pair of shoes, and then, weeks later, it feels ordinary  OR worst, you're NOT even using it?  WHY this happens to almost anyone of us is something more puzzling than we could have thought of.  I myself I've been through a hell lots of frenzied UPs and DOWNs, especially those 'UPs' where we'll declare that we seem to be walking in 'Cloud 9'?  So, WHEN IS ENOUGH ENOUGH???

In Psychology, the experts have came up with the HEDONIC ADAPTATION theory, that psychological concept WHEREIN people tend to return to a stable baseline level of happiness after experiencing major positive OR negative life events.  And those rare phenomenons would explain WHY significant life changes [LIKE getting a job promotion, having your new spanking car OR even winning a major LOTTO purse name it], all of these will initially cause either a surge OR dip in our levels of happiness💥💥💥

And a consistent observation is that those surges OR dips would eventually fade over time [most of the time within the near term] and eventually we would adjust those new circumstances and return to our personal level aptly termed by experts as 'HAPPINESS SET POINT'.  Perplexing ASK to us is this:  WHY DO WE GET USED TO THE THINGS WE THOUGHT WOULD MAKE US HAPPY?  It might seem LIKE after getting WHAT you want, we reach into that so called 'adaptation-level' phenomenon, that term describing HOW we humans become insensitive to new stimuli and quickly readjust to an emotional baseline💚💛💜

WHICH simply explains as to WHY the stimulus needed to create an emotion needs to be more intense than the last/most previous stimulus in order for someone to feel its effect.  Imagine a kid WHO's craving for an ice cream and you surprise him with an extra scoop.  That will excite him at that point in time.  Come next time, try buying him the same ice cream with that same extra scoop, I'll bet that kid will NOT get excited anymore.  Instead, maybe you offer an extra toppings like 'cookies and cream' etc.  To piggy-back on the jargons in Psychology, hedonic consumption [that practice of people purchasing goods OR services for pleasure [once their basic needs get fulfilled] and hedonic value [WHICH refers to the personal value based on the pleasure derived from something that a person places on something😌😌😌

Our takeaway:  Various researchers have attempted to examine that hedonic treadmill phenomenon and have even attempted to determine HOW MUCH our happiness is really under our control.  And here comes the 50/40/10 RULE FOR HAPPINESS which tells us that a full 50% of our happiness set-point is due to genetics WHILE 10% is affected primarily by circumstances LIKE WHERE we were born and to WHOM.  That leaves 40% that is subject to our influence.  HOW much and HOW we sway and swing with that 40% variable becomes our call dude!!!