How To Enjoy Things Forever

In my previous blog I wrote about the annoying features of our mind. One of the annoying features I talked about our mind is its tendency to get used to stuff. Today I am going to share how to overcome this tendency (called Hedonic Adaptation) intentionally which I learned from the course ‘The Science of Well-Being’ by Laurie Santos. 

#1 technique : Focus on having more experience rather than more stuff

Don’t want ‘stuff’ or in other words ‘things’. Now, take a minute to think about something that you remember about often, something that makes you feel happy when you think about it. So, the something that you think about often would most probably be your experience. Maybe a concert, or a vacation. The best part about a experiences is that they don’t last long. They happen so fast and then just leave us with sweet memories. They give us no time for hedonic adaptation. A study by Kumar Et. Al. stated that on a four-point scale, the happiness that you feel during an experience is 2.64 while that for a material is 1.37. Your intuition might be saying that this is wrong, but that is just your mind playing games with you. So if you want to ask your parents for something for your birthday, don’t ask for new sneakers or a leather jacket, instead ask them to take you to a concert or play.

#2 technique : Savouring

Savouring is the act of stepping outside an experience to review and appreciate it. Imagine that you are eating an ice-cream outside on a hot sunny day. There are a couple of thoughts and actions that you can have. You can think about how lucky you are to have it, laugh and smile, and be absorbed in the moment. On the other hand, you could focus on the future, when the ice-cream gets over, or tell yourself that nothing last forever. So you see, the choice is yours. Be happy and thankful for what you have and live in the moment or do the latter, and be disappointed. One more thing is that this savouring is not only about food, it can be about anything, from your relationships to your day-to-day activities.

#3 technique : Negative Visualisation

In this, you think about the reverse of what is happening right now. Just imagine, if you would have been born in a poor family. You would have never been able to live in your wonderful house, go to your amazing school, or meet your remarkable friends. This tactic will prevent you from getting used to all these marvellous things that you tend to forget you have.

#4 technique : Make this day your last

I don’t mean your ‘last day’ as in you’re going to die tomorrow. What I mean is that follow this strategy in some situations. For example, pretend that you are getting graduated from your school in a week. At that moment, you will remember your school time, the fun you had with your classmates, those different types of teachers, examinations, etc and start valuing and appreciating school.

#5 technique : Gratitude

Gratitude is the quality of being thankful and a tendency to show appreciation for what one has.

Emmons and McCullough did a research and told people at the end of the week to write fives things they are grateful for and five things that bother them. The result stated that people who wrote about the things they were grateful for were more positive towards life as a whole than those who wrote about the things that bothered them. I have been trying this for last few weeks and it really works. Five minutes before I go to sleep I write fives things that I’m thankful for in my gratitude journal. It makes me feel happy and motivated for the next day. Writing in your gratitude journal is a great way to end your day with. One more thing you can do to make the other person feel better (which actually makes you feel better) is to tell them about it.