11 Comments

I would offer as an aside that prolonged and unwilling deprivation can be a long lasting antidote to hedonic adaptation. Having been without a car during a difficult period of my life I continue, many years later, to marvel at and be grateful for my second hand minivan and the freedom and ease it represents.

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So true! This is how optimists think: look on the bright side, deprivation increases later joy. With food, with housing, with people.

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By the same token, do you think that we should also change partners every couple of years or so?

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No, one shouldn't change partners every couple of years if we are happy! But if we are desperately drawn to someone else, it's possible for some people to love that person as well as the primary partner. I know this is a minority opinion, but I do believe in seizing opportunities for jjoy.

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Thank you Catherine for this honest opinion.

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Humorous observation about Cupid being depicted as a toddler. I am an example I think of the bounce-back theory to a basic median -- in my case, a state of terrified elation.

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Terrified elation is the way I feel about AI! Anyway, seems better than elated terror! Yes, Cupid is . . . Very young and um not too smart!

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You're so practical! I like that. Find the new new thing. Read a new author. Try a new yoga pose. Sink your feet into a new carpet and feel the difference.

Ever tried fennel? I tried it the other day for the first time and wow!

But don't you think that a new person often keeps being new? We are multidimensional. People can surprise and delight you again and again.

We're surrounded by mystery. Probe it and continue to find the new.

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A new person can indeed keep revealing new aspects of themselves; a great mind keeps having insights. But "science has shown" that the heady feeling of "being in love," with its physical concommitants, rarely lasts more than 2 years.

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Jul 19, 2023Liked by Catherine Hiller

Ah. "Science has shown." OK then!

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Quotes let you express and subvert any sentiment!

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