The Hedonic Treadmill: Since moving to Thailand...Have you FINALLY been able to get off it?

[GammaGlobulin]

My Dear Friends,

 

What is your set point of happiness?

High or Low...?

 

And, since moving to Thailand, has your set point been reset?

 

Here is a link for you about set points and the hedonic treadmill.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonic_treadmill

 

Personally, I do believe in my hedonic setpoint.

Mostly, it stays just about the same, in Thailand.

 

I think we need more research to define more clearly why some people are happier, no matter what their circumstances.

 

Also, why, for example, do people smile less now than they once did?

 

 

Regards,

Gobby

 

Please Note:  Let us next discuss the paradox of hedonism, which is sure to be a hot topic in Pattaya. 

 

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

As an aside to the original post:

 

One might add that here is, basically, a diagram of the Pattaya-type Hedonic Treadmill...

 

 

 

Therefore, perhaps...

While you might give up one or another hedonic cycles when you leave the West, ...

Yet, if you come to Thailand, and if you are not careful....

Then you might become enmeshed in another viscous cycle, worse than what you had left.

 

No matter where we go,

So apparently,

We are just lab rats in a Skinner box,

In the end.

 

Until the end, of course.

[Hummin]

For me it's more about contrasts in life, and do things I understand is good for me/us, and not necessary things I like to do, but things that make my life complete. 

 

Live simple, make life a journey with contrasts! 

 

No consequences no guilt

 

 

 

 

[1FinickyOne]

Hedonic treadmill?? Sounds like a contradiction... 

 

and who provides statistics on how often people smile?

 

You can see a smile through a mask, but.... 

[GammaGlobulin]

30 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

Hedonic treadmill?? Sounds like a contradiction... 

 

and who provides statistics on how often people smile?

 

You can see a smile through a mask, but.... 

Did you notice that I, above, wrote:  viscous cycle...  INSTEAD of....  vicious cycle....

 

So, then...why did you not call me out on this glaring error????

 

Wish you had...

 

Best regards,

Glob

 

 

[GammaGlobulin]

31 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

Hedonic treadmill?? Sounds like a contradiction... 

 

and who provides statistics on how often people smile?

 

You can see a smile through a mask, but.... 

Yes.

A logical contradiction.

Nothing about human behavior is logical.

Perception has little to do with reality, as well.

[1FinickyOne]

2 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Perception has little to do with reality, as well

'The trouble w/reality is that it does not live up to my greatest fantasies'       Morgan [an old cult movie]

[Rhys]

It is simply a wilderness of mirrors.

 

[Lacessit]

Hedonism is my reward for achievement. IMO it is meaningless unless one has worked for it first.

[BritManToo]

4 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Also, why, for example, do people smile less now than they once did?

How would you know?

They're all wearing masks!

[BritManToo]

40 minutes ago, 1FinickyOne said:

'The trouble w/reality is that it does not live up to my greatest fantasies'       Morgan [an old cult movie]

I would say my life in Thailand has exceeded all my wildest fantasies from back in the UK.

If someone had suggested what I'd be getting up to in my 50s/60s, to me in my 20s/30s, I'd have called them a liar.

[Lacessit]

3 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Did you notice that I, above, wrote:  viscous cycle...  INSTEAD of....  vicious cycle....

 

So, then...why did you not call me out on this glaring error????

 

Wish you had...

 

Best regards,

Glob

 

 

Posts are removed for being spelling police, and how are we to know it was not a Freudian slip?

[CharlieH]

We are all victims of our own mind.

You decide to like or dislike, to smile or frown, so is it really the situation, or just your attitude toward it ?

 

[1FinickyOne]

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

How would you know?

They're all wearing masks!

you can see a smile around the eyes, the skin wrinkles.... 

[zzaa09]

11 hours ago, Rhys said:

It is simply a wilderness of mirrors.

 

Say that real fast repeatedly five times....

[GammaGlobulin]

Due to my perennially poor spelling, not to mention shoddy grammar, let me add this glossary for reading of the above topic:

 

Glossary ---

 

setpoint:  In control applications a setpoint is the target value at which a controller attempts to maintain the process variable. This also applies to describing an emotional setpoint.

 

set point:  Set point refers to the name of the last point that could occur in a set, which could occur many times during a match. If a server is winning a set 5-3 and the score of the final game is 40-30, the next point would be referred to as the set point.

 

Love Fifteen:  This was once a tennis term which has other meanings in Pattaya.

 

Viscious VS Viscous:  This is a word which is not recognized by the spelling-correction algorithm supplied by this forum software, at least judging from my personal experience.  Viscous, they have.  Viscious, is a word unknown to the spelling-correction algorithm.

 

Sid Vicious:    

 

[zzaa09]

Ya Dong does it for me.

 

.....and you?

[GammaGlobulin]

Nobody speaks and writes English better than the guys from the UK.

 

Unfortunately, maybe, after the colonists in the colonies, who were originally born in the UK, died off, then we were left with so-called Melting Pot speakers of English.

 

Melting Pot English is not the real deal.

 

Add to this the recent assault on the English language by YouTubers that have a wide audience.

 

And this is why we can soon say Bye Bye to English as we once knew it.

 

On YouTube, there is no such thing as the proper use of pronouns.

 

English is evolving rapidly now.

 

In Singapore, for example, English is nothing more than a mishmash of gibberish.

 

Wave on!

[phetphet]

Got away from a crowded, polluted city when I retired, to a tropical island with cleaner air, less traffic, better weather.

It's not perfect, but I know I would be less fitter, less healthier, and less happier if I had stayed in London.

Thailand has its downsides, but the good outweighs the bad as far as I am concerned.

 

As for any hedonism, I outgrew that a long time ago.

[Phoenix Rising]

The Hedonic Treadmill? Sure, no problem. It's the hedonistic treadmill I just won't get off!

[GammaGlobulin]

More from Sidney Viscous! (sp)

 

My misspellings have always been a source of embarrassment to me.

 

Too late, now.

 

 

[sanuk711]

On 6/22/2022 at 1:29 AM, GammaGlobulin said:

Therefore, perhaps...

While you might give up one or another hedonic cycles when you leave the West, ...

Yet, if you come to Thailand, and if you are not careful....

Then you might become enmeshed in another viscous cycle, worse than what you had left.

 

20 replies to your  posting---7 of them from you...keep it up you just might make the majority yet.......

 

[GammaGlobulin]

By the way...speaking of the use of pronouns...

 

The Chinese have it good, because....

 

The Chinese speakers have it easy.

 

TA = he, she, it

TAMEN = they, them

 

You don't need to remember almost nothing.

 

English is an exceedingly difficult language.

Yet, my Chinese students are the best in the world.

 

======

Americans, I have noticed, have almost completely given up on proper usage of pronouns.

 

"Me and her gonna get high, high on Friday", for example.

 

Dig it, Man....

Dig the pronouns....

 

 

 

 

 

[scorecard]

On 6/22/2022 at 1:29 AM, GammaGlobulin said:

As an aside to the original post:

 

One might add that here is, basically, a diagram of the Pattaya-type Hedonic Treadmill...

 

 

 

Therefore, perhaps...

While you might give up one or another hedonic cycles when you leave the West, ...

Yet, if you come to Thailand, and if you are not careful....

Then you might become enmeshed in another viscous cycle, worse than what you had left.

 

No matter where we go,

So apparently,

We are just lab rats in a Skinner box,

In the end.

 

Until the end, of course.

But not all farang in Thailand belongs to the lifestyles you guys depict.

 

My happiness comes from having a wonderful Thai family, and success in career.

 

[GammaGlobulin]

2 minutes ago, scorecard said:

But not all farang in Thailand belongs to the lifestyles you guys depict.

 

My happiness comes from having a wonderful Thai family, and success in career.

 

No doubt, never a truer word has anyone spoken.

You are blessed.

Therefore, continue to enjoy your blessings.

[swissie]

Us Farangs were good teachers introducing Thais to Hedonism.