Habituation and the hedonic treadmill
Look again - the power of noticing what was always there.
Dishabituation - a break from your routine makes you see your routine anew. Julie Roberts "resparkles" time with her family by returning after shooting a movie.
Changing your environment primes your brain for taking in information differently and sparking creativity. But the effect only lasts 6 minutes.
Experiences retain their intrigue far longer than material items. Experiences are recollected over and over, and you habituate slower.
Giving is much more satisfying than receiving. The rate of habituation of feeling happy is much faster for things you get for yourself.
Variety enhances psychological experiences. Variety prevents habituation. Variety by definition means there's change, so you can't habituate to it.
Shorter vacations may be better - vacations peak in happiness at 43 hours. A few short vacations will be more exciting than longer ones.
People who are asked say they prefer hearing a favorite song without interruption. But when tested, they enjoyed it now if it was interrupted. Same with massage.
Conversely, distasteful experiences are best done without breaks, so you don't have to re-enter the habituation to the bad.
People who have had depression returned to neutral emotion slower after bad news.
Disastrous accidents often happen near the very end of an undertaking. The workers habituate to the danger and take less precautions at the end of the project.
https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/making-the-world-sparkle-again/
