Getting Off The “Hedonic Treadmill”…

Interesting article… the hard part is actually getting off the treadmill as it gets faster and faster…

Can capitalism survive environmentalism?

As for the personal or individual level, members of the new branch of the psychological profession who call themselves “positive psychologists” say that we are on a “hedonic treadmill.” We earn more to spend more and then have to earn more to spend more and then…We get a quick burst of pleasure from our purchases but no long term increase in happiness. Meanwhile, many are stressed by working all the hours to do jobs they don’t believe in with people they don’t care for.

Increases in the baselines of our happiness, it turns out, don’t come from money once you’ve achieved an income equivalent of something like $40,000. What the positive psychologists say happiness does come from, on the other hand, is strong interpersonal relationships, doing what you are naturally good at, living a life that is in accord with your values, and achieving meaning by connecting to something larger than yourself.