12 Comments

Love how you've used the movie to teach these lessons.

Related Question: How do you deal with hedonic adaptation? Especially in your successes? How do you reconnect and see that you've actually come so far?

For some reason, your issue made me think about these questions...

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Thanks, Ishan! Love that you're asking these questions.

My take is when you have a desirable baseline, it's a natural flow to soar with success (like a temporary high) and then pull back to your baseline (like the tide returning to the ocean). As long as your baseline feels like "home" in a good way, you have no qualms returning to it.

I think the important questions to ask yourself are:

1. Is hedonic adaptation highlighting an issue with my everyday life?

2. If so, how can I elevate my baseline by changing myself and my environment?

As far as seeing how far you've come, reflection is key. I also find things like photos (ex. social media posts) and journals help you reconnect with a previous state and benchmark how far you've come.

Does this make sense?

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Totally makes sense. I'll work on finding that baseline, and I'll plough through my archives for old photos to compare. Thanks, Alexandra :)

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Loved this Alexandra! I'm a big fan of Brooklyn (and all of Toibin's novels). This was a great throwback to (and analysis of) a beautiful story.

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Thanks, John! Appreciate you sharing that. Going to check them out stat!

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Beautiful message and so relatable

Thank you

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Thank you, Lubo! Appreciate the kind words.

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Love how you always take lessons from the content you consume / experiences you have. It's such a great habit I wish to imitate. Lovely post as always Alexandra!

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Thank you, Catalina! I appreciate you being a dedicated reader and your comments always mean a lot. Thank you!! :)

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Thanks a ton, Alexandra!

I'm crazy busy because I'm winding up some stuff before my TWIM (meditation) retreat starting on 6th June but I still read your newsletter because I knew it would be totally total. {:-)

I was right. Totally total!

One day, you should visit India, preferably South India...

Many smiles and much metta,

Rohi

"As long as you live, keep learning how to live." ~Seneca

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Aw, thank you, Rohi! Your kind words mean a lot. :)

Have an incredible time on your retreat! I've never done a meditation retreat but it's on my bucket list. Enjoy!

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May 31, 2023
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Thanks, Baz! Appreciate you reading. 😊

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