How would you feel if you won a million dollars?
In "Stumbling on Happiness" the author argues quite persuasively that humans are bad at predicting the future because they think of everything in terms of the NOW.
We predict how we would feel in the future if we won a million dollars based on how we would feel NOW if we won a million dollars. And in the case of winning a million dollars chances are we won't be far off from our guess. We of course are able to try and think around such things if we acknowledge that we are basing future feelings off present feelings, but this is tricky because any scenario we may come up with is still going to be based on what we know of the present. There is no way around it.
I read this book a few months ago, but I think of it now because the last few weeks have been such an emotional roller coaster for me. Most of these feelings were based on things that actually happened, my cat dying, a confrontation at work, a job offer, a new cat, an extra pay check, a car accident... etc. etc. etc. But I think I also spent a good portion of my nights feeling miserable about things that hadn't happened. Things I merely feared would happened based on how I presently felt. It is so silly to loose sleep over such things.
Perhaps though I could use the same argument for my current happiness. When ever I am truly rushed with happiness I am always surprised. Though I think this is why I miss my friends. There was a more constant flow of steady happiness and other emotions with so many friends about.
But I digress. I am happy about the potential for something. There is always the possibility that it will turn out horrible- and that I think is why I should not waste the happiness. I should embrace it. It could be my only time to be happy about it. Though it does kind of break the expectations rule to avoid disappointment, but as Steven King would say forgetahboutit!
In "Stumbling on Happiness" the author argues quite persuasively that humans are bad at predicting the future because they think of everything in terms of the NOW.
We predict how we would feel in the future if we won a million dollars based on how we would feel NOW if we won a million dollars. And in the case of winning a million dollars chances are we won't be far off from our guess. We of course are able to try and think around such things if we acknowledge that we are basing future feelings off present feelings, but this is tricky because any scenario we may come up with is still going to be based on what we know of the present. There is no way around it.
I read this book a few months ago, but I think of it now because the last few weeks have been such an emotional roller coaster for me. Most of these feelings were based on things that actually happened, my cat dying, a confrontation at work, a job offer, a new cat, an extra pay check, a car accident... etc. etc. etc. But I think I also spent a good portion of my nights feeling miserable about things that hadn't happened. Things I merely feared would happened based on how I presently felt. It is so silly to loose sleep over such things.
Perhaps though I could use the same argument for my current happiness. When ever I am truly rushed with happiness I am always surprised. Though I think this is why I miss my friends. There was a more constant flow of steady happiness and other emotions with so many friends about.
But I digress. I am happy about the potential for something. There is always the possibility that it will turn out horrible- and that I think is why I should not waste the happiness. I should embrace it. It could be my only time to be happy about it. Though it does kind of break the expectations rule to avoid disappointment, but as Steven King would say forgetahboutit!
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