Blog 1

I will explain two of my own personal experiences, based on an idea from Gertner’s article entitled: The Futile Pursuit of Happiness. In that article, Daniel Gilbert talks about how ownership of a BMW might seem like it would make life perfect, but he goes on to say it will almost certainly be less exciting than we anticipate.  And how about new plasma TV?  One may have high hopes, he suggests, but the impact will almost always be less amazing than anticipated.

In my youth, I liked staying entertained with action, adventure and role-playing types of video games.  I always wanted to have the latest and greatest game out at the time. Playing them made me feel like I was in a whole new world. It just felt right at the time. As time went on though,  and as I got a lot older, I realized video gaming wasn’t always the best way to pass the time.  I felt the need to socialize more, and get better educated. Gaming is fun sometimes with friends online, but after a while it takes a lot out of you. It makes you feel empty inside, and short on cash. The older I got the smarter I got both in mind and spirit. My whole attitude changed for the better, and I applied to a community college.

Now on page twelve of Gertner’s article, Lowenstein talks about hot and cold states in which emotions pit against one’s intellect.  He goes on to talk about how climbers have a poor memory for pain and usually ignore it at great peril, discounting what Lowenstein refers to as “turn-back time“.  I had a similar experience this summer climbing up Mt. Taurus, situated in the East Hudson Highlands.  At the time, I was hiking with my sister and a friend.  Mt. Taurus is 1,300 feet above sea level, and I wasn’t used to climbing mountains.  I was doing fine until I got about half way up.  Eventually, I reached the peak, but by that point, I was very low on energy.  Going back downhill, I had to stop a  few times.  It was now getting dark and we were anxious to get back down before sunset.  Greatly relieved, we made it back to the car park while it was still light.  We had accomplished our goal.  I was happy, but quite frankly, not sure if I’d ever want do it again!  Only time will tell.  

In conclusion, I really enjoyed watching Daniel Gilbert’s video, and reading the article entitled: The Futile Pursuit of Happiness.  It made me understand my own personal experience even more then I did before. Sometimes things that we think might excite us at first often turn out to be disappointing down the road.  That’s just human nature, I suppose.  Many times we think that the things that momentarily peak our interest will change our lives.  In actuality, that doesn’t always happen, as Gilbert states in the video. Lowenstein also talks about people experiencing hot and cold states in life. We just have to learn to deal with those situations and accept the limitations dictated by our bodies.