How to Step Off the Hedonistic Treadmill

This one habit can keep you from adjusting to your new circumstances.

To overcome the hedonistic treadmill, be grateful. It is that simple and that hard.

What is the hedonistic treadmill?

In simplest terms, the hedonistic treadmill is idea that humans each have a baseline level of happiness. No matter what happens in your life, you will eventually return to this baseline.

A lot research has been done showing that after winning the lottery or being involved a horrendous accident, people tend to return to the level of happiness they had before the major event. The surprising part is that it doesn’t matter if the event was positive or negative, people return to their baseline level of satisfaction.

If we all return to our baseline, then what’s the point? How to we fight back against the treadmill?

Practicing Gratitude

Why does practicing gratitude help us step off the hedonistic treadmill? Because practicing gratitude does not allow you to be indifferent to the good things in your life.

It’s impossible to be grateful and indifferent to the same thing. Once you have acknowledged that something is a gift and something to be thankful for, you are immediately happier about it.