Key Lesson
Key Lesson: Humans tend to adapt to new circumstances, leading to a "hedonic treadmill" where increased wealth and comfort don't necessarily result in sustained happiness.
— from Enjoy the Flight (Living/Balance/Happiness/Passion) · Big Questions How Philosophy can change your life by Lou Marinoff
In the book
The treadmill. There's little point expecting the next purchase to lift your well-being for long; you get a small jolt of pleasure, you adapt, and you slide right back to where you started, already eyeing the next thing — the hedonic treadmill. We are built to adapt to new circumstances, which is a marvelous survival trick and a terrible happiness strategy, because the new car becomes ordinary astonishingly fast. Not all dissatisfaction is the enemy, mind you — the creative person's hunger to improve his work is the useful kind; the trap is the other kind, restlessness over things that are unimportant or can't be changed, and wisdom is largely the skill of telling them apart. — Enjoy the Flight (Living/Balance/Happiness/Passion)