sugardeath

Some thing I had to do for some thing at school

I was assigned to read the first three chapters of Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness and write about something that interested me.  Rereading my paper it sounds more like I summarized his key points, but because "write about something that interested me" was awfully vague... I'm hoping it'll work.  I do like that I was able to provide a little insight into my own thinking as well as show that I do not agree with everything Gilbert says.  There is a lot I could have expanded upon, especially at the end of the paper, but a) I felt the paper was kinda long already, b) I don't have much time left for the paper, and c) I have no how I would expand upon it (I just know that it needs it).  All that said, I really enjoy my writing style in this piece.  And the book was actually slightly interesting.  I have the whole thing in audiobook, so I technically listened to the first three chapters instead of reading them, but it's the same thing in the end.  The audiobook I have is read by the author and he does a pretty good job of it.  I might finish listening to it at some point.

Daniel Gilbert's book, Stumbling on Happiness, presents an idea contrary to that offered by many others: that happiness is not easily found simply by following a set of guidelines or practices (or, as others may suggest, the lack there of). Instead, he posits that happiness is determined more by situation and chance, a point that he illustrates with a pair of conjoined twins. A situation that most separated individuals would not imagine as being enjoyable, or perhaps down right terrible, is quite normal to the twins. As the majority of humans have never been conjoined to another person, it is hard to imagine what life would be like in such a situation. Whereas for the twins, they have never experienced life apart so they do not know if they would enjoy it more. It may even stand to be that if the twins were separated, they may be unhappy and pine for their days of togetherness. What can be gleaned from this example and series of “what ifs” is that determining situational happiness is nigh impossible unless one has already experienced such a situation.

Nigh impossible does not mean impossible, though. Just as there are (an advertised) .1% of germs that various household cleaners do not kill, there are also an amount of people that do not have a hard time imagining various situations as well as an amount of situations that are not hard to imagine at all. Some people may be able to imagine perfectly well what it would be like to have a sibling physically attached to them at all times, what they will have a hard time imagining, however, is how they will feel in such a situation. This ties in with Gilbert's suggestion that humans are not a psychic medium; that is that they are incredibly terrible at predicting the future. While imagining being conjoined your whole life despite not actually being so is not predicting the future, per se, it is still predicting the unknown, of which the future is part. For the purposes of Gilbert's book, as well as this paper, the word 'future' does not refer to immediate reactions to a decision or action, such as running a red light or kissing the girl, but instead to what could happen anywhere from tomorrow until the end of one's life (or beyond in the case of visionaries or futurists). It is common place for an individual to plan out what they want to do or where they want to be in so many year's time. One may write down certain goals they wish to achieve or certain aspects about their life they wish to change. All of these things are based on how that person feels right now in the present as well as experiences from the past. It will not be known for sure if traveling to China will bring about the feelings that one believes it might, but how are they to know until they try? Perhaps one loves to travel and explore and as such has been all over Europe. Suppose they go to China with the intentions of seeing historic landmarks and engaging in Chinese culture, but instead end up seeing the poor living state of the majority of the population, the way the government lies to its people, and maybe a child labor sweat shop or two. Suddenly what they thought would be an interesting and insightful vacation has turned into a harsh realization of what really happens in the country. Granted, not all cases of incorrect predictions are as heart-shattering as this.

Despite not being able to predict how future events or goals will make one feel, it is still common for people to layout paths they want to travel and for them to walk the trail accordingly. Once at the end of the road, one might be asked, either by themselves or another, if they are as happy as they thought they would be when they decided what to do all those years ago. The answer will vary from, “not as much,” to “yes, just as much” (however unlikely), to “yes, more so.” Similar to the China example, unforeseen events or perception shifts can produce different levels of current happiness. If, for example, two people have the goal to start their own business despite the hardship entailed with such a task, they would imagine the end result of running a successful business as rewarding. The first person, somewhere along the way, comes into a large sum of money. For a lot of people, this would be an incredibly happy event. For this person, it also makes his goal of starting a business easier, as he now has more capital with which to work. The end result of starting and running a business, however, may not initially be as happy as was imagined because, for most, coming across money is often an extremely joyous event by itself. Person two, however, may lose a loved one, an event that takes a toll on their emotional health and perhaps their pocket book too (due to days missed from their current job, funeral expenses, grief counseling, etc.). If they decide to continue with their goal of starting a business and succeed, then the experience is ultimately more rewarding for this person than it was for the other because recently their life has been filled with unhappy situations. What this demonstrates is that happiness is relative. There is no set way to measure one person's perception of happiness due to a given event compared to another person's. Just as conjoined twins may be happy together, and I am happy not being conjoined to anyone, it is impossible to truly know who is happier.

Because happiness is both unsure and relative, Gilbert suggests that if one is thinking of following a certain path, they should converse with those who have gone down the same or similar paths to get an idea for what it entails and how they may feel once they accomplish the goal. Gilbert is in no way suggesting that one give up on a goal if they don't think they'll achieve ultimate happiness from it, but he does not give as much (if any) attention to the fact that for some people traversing the path itself provides the much-sought happiness. As touched on with the two hypothetical people and their goal to start a small business, the journey one takes determines the happiness they feel at the end. Gilbert would explain that the lucky person who inherited the money was not as happy with the outcome because his “average level” of perception has shifted upwards thanks to the money being introduced. However, his lack of happiness compared to perceived happiness could be explained by the fact that he did not have to work as hard as the other person. He did not have to overcome the same obstacles that the person who lost someone did and thus did not accomplish as much in order to reach his goal. The second person could have forgone his goal due to the hardships he experienced, but he chose to persevere and thus had a more rewarding experience when he finally opened his business. Perhaps it is not the goal itself, but the path one takes to achieve said goal that ultimately determines how much happiness one feels. For the conjoined twins, a large part of their happiness may be attributed to the fact that they are living their life and getting things done despite the world being designed for people in single bodies. For the traveler who was initially horrified at what she saw in China, she may now have a better perspective on the relative luxuries she has in her life and may come to appreciate them more; or she may join a cause or help the less fortunate in some way and thus find a new source of happiness that she previously did not know existed. With all the factors that Gilbert identifies that determine happiness, it seems as if he forgot about the most influential one: the road one takes in life and the challenges along the way.

I made scrambled eggs yesterday morning, they were running due to too much milk.  I put sharp cheddar in them.  Good stuff.  I made eggs again this morning, but this time I put in some Oscar Meyer turkey and about two to three quarters tablespoon of taco seasoning.  It was actually pretty good, though something else needed to go in to kind of play with the taco seasoning flavor a bit, I think. 

I have four mornings left here, I have been using three eggs each time I make them, and there are a dozen eggs in the fridge.  I think I'm set.  I just need more things to try.  Things I have been suggested that I could actually do:

• chili powder
• chili
• butter (in the egg mix)
• cheese, olives, crushed tortilla chips
• salsa
• flour (for firmer eggs)
• various spices around the kitchen

I also had a thought when my mom was preparing her breakfast this morning: hot chocolate powder.  Just enough to add some flavor to it.  I mean, I already put syrup on my eggs if they're plain, so why not add another sweet flavor to the mix?