What is the Hedonic Treadmill theory?
According to Wikipedia it is "the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes".
You might say coffee has little to do with major anything. Well, maybe not but it has been a major pursuit in my life for sometime now. The perfect cup of coffee is ever elusive. I think I have it just right but then a couple of cups later it appears something is not good enough. Back to the drawing board.
The drawing board has taken me through: Keurig, French Press, Expresso machine, & my pretty red stovetop expresso maker:
What I finally came back to? Drip coffee is so much easier & just as good. You set it up the night before, click a button in the morning & voila...coffee. Also - for now I went back to powdered non-dairy creamer because I'm tired of the stuff in my throat from so much dairy.
I'm sticking with my Monk Fruit over sugar or sweetener, though. It's all natural. It tastes good. And it helps keep blood sugar levels balanced.
So - I have returned to my roots as far as happy coffee is concerned. It definitely wasn't a quick return, though.
Black Coffee In Bed by Squeeze
PS - there are two theories of happiness: hedonic - experiences of pleasure & enjoyment & eudaimonic - experiences of meaning & purpose. Coffee would fall into hedonic happiness for me.
Lately I am not writing. Maybe I'll get back to it one day. Who knows.
For now I am focusing my efforts on getting my place ready to sell because we want to move out of Florida which gets more expensive - and bizarre - to live in everyday.
Longevity vs Long Life
Longevity is being healthy
and active until the day you die quickly and peacefully.
Long Life is living a long
time even confined to a bed.
In a recent amusing text thread amongst me, my mom & my aunties - I volunteered to put together a list of documentaries / shows about longevity. Below is that list.
Skippable amusing auto correction story: I kept using 'centarians' instead of 'centenarians' which auto correct kept changing to 'centurions' which somehow led to us trying to decide if Aunt Mary would make a better 'centarian' or 'centurion'.
NETFLIX
Live To 100: Secrets of
the Blue Zones*
1 season with 4 episodes
Each episode visits a
different Blue Zone.
*Blue Zones are regions of the world where people tend to live longer and where there are larger concentrations of centenarians (people who live to be 100 years old or more).
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC – usually through Disney+
Limitless With Chris
Helmsworth
1season with 6 episodes
Each episodes addresses
thing which affect longevity
1 stress 2 shock 3 fasting
4 strength 5 memory 6 acceptance
In each episode Chris is
learning / doing things to minimize the affects of these things on his longevity.
The 6th episode features his wife & is very sweet.
TUBI**
The Longevity Film
Visits several Blue Zones including
the one natural Blue Zone in the USA which is in Loma Linda CA. Talks about
efforts to create some other Blue Zones here.
Also TUBI
How To Live Forever
Documentary about
longevity. Starts out slow but gets better and is worth it to watch.
Features several interesting people; Jack LaLane @ 94, Edna Parker-the oldest woman ever, Phyllis Diller doing a stand-up routine late in life that is very funny, a 98-year-old kite flyer in Okinawa (he describes himself as a loaner which is almost unheard of in longevity circles where community is considered high on the list of things necessary)
There is also a bittersweet interview with Suzanne Somers talking about her efforts at longevity where she expresses confidence that she will live to be 100. She died at 77 of breast cancer. Really it’s remarkable she lived as long as she did considering she fought cancer off and on throughout her life starting when she was in her 20’s.
Skippable anecdote– Speaking of community as necessary to becoming a centenarian – Campbells do community like they invented it.
Skippable funny side note – There is talk about funerals in this one. Which reminded me of something amusing about Japanese funerals. It is a sign of status to have big crowds at your funeral. In order to make that happen strippers are hired to entertain the crowds. I had a good laugh thinking about someone hiring a stripper to entertain at a funeral at Musters Funeral home. I really think someone needs to include that in their pre-planning. Any volunteers? Wouldn’t have to be a female stripper. Bonnie? Brenda?
**If you stream but don’t have TUBI – it’s free with ads. Just open it. Freevee (formerly IMBd) same
Something on Tubi I found, haven’t watched but plan to:
Older Than Ireland – said to
be a documentary about 30 centenarians in Ireland.
FREEVEE
The Human Longevity
Project
I haven’t seen this one
but it is supposed to be 9 episodes that look really good. I will watch it if I
can find it.
PBS
Series called Sages Of
Aging
I don’t get PBS so I haven’t
seen this one but PBS always does a good job of anything it sets out to do so
probably it’s good.
NPR
Does not have any talk
shows on longevity but has several articles I want to check out on NPR.org
Things that look good that I haven’t found yet:
Longevity Hackers
Aging Backwards
Human Longevity – How To
Live Longer & Prosper
In How To Live Forever – Marianne Williamson says – don’t retire instead refire your life. There is a lot of movement in learning about longevity. Enough to keep one entertained well into their 100’s.
As I find more – I will send it your way.
I usually end a blogpost with a song but instead here is the trailer for Limitless because the eye candy is only made better by the ear candy.
I have run into many delightsome words lately. Time to
share!
Author Emma Jameson is the source of these words:
Lady Juliet in the Dr Bones books (I highly recommend this
series) uses-
Fatuity – which means absurdity or foolishness or stupidity
Jejune (pronounced juh joon) – which means naïve or
simplistic or superficial. When it’s used to describe writing it means dry
& uninteresting.
Codswallop – which is a perfect word for untrue or nonsense –
IMO Donald Trump is full of codswallop.
In Jameson’s series with main character Jem Jago ( This
series is not my cup of tea) uses –
Quagmire – which means soft, shaky ground or a difficult,
precarious or entrapping position or predicament. Very appropriate sounding
word.
One of my favorite authors of all time – Amanda Quick (aka
Jayne Ann Krentz) always gives me new or heretofore unexplored words.
Miasma – 1 an unpleasant or unhealthy smell or vapor 2 an
oppressive or unpleasant atmosphere surrounding or emanating from something
For example – when I opened the door upon returning home
from school and a miasma of fish smell wafted out to me – I knew – it was
salmon cakes for supper night. Yuck.
Denouement – I so love this word. Pronounced day noo mawn 1
final part of a narrative when the strands of the plot are drawn together and
all the stories are explained or resolved 2 climax of a chain of events when something
is decided or made clear
For example – The denouement of the third season of
Bridgerton was all I hoped it would be.
Maelstrom – 1 a powerful whirlpool in a sea or river 2 – a situation
of confused movement or violent turmoil
For example – I entered a maelstrom of people attempting to
leave when the Taylor Swift concert ended.
Speaking of Ms Swift – she uses a word in the lyrics for her
song - Karma – that is very satisfying –
Opacity – which can mean lacking transparency or
translucence or opaqueness – it also can mean obscurity of meaning
I like Emma Jameson at a time when trust for a new author does not come easy because I don't want to be bruised emotionally by a book. There's enough of that in real life.
Now I am going to try the first book from Jameson's - Jem Jago Mystery series.
Dr. Benjamin Bones Mysteries.
Bones in the Blackout / Bones at the Manor House / Bones Takes a Holiday / Bones Buried Deep
---------------- ------------------
Lord & Lady Hetheridge cozy mystery series
Ice Blue / Blue Murder / Something Blue / Black & Blue / Blue Blooded / Blue Christmas Untrue Blue / (London Blue)
---------- ----------------
In partnership with Bookouture, Ms. James writes the Jem Jago Mystery Series
A Death at Seascape House/ A Death at Candlewick Castle / A Death at Silversmith Bay / A Death at Neptune Cove / A Death at Bay View Hotel
---------------- --------------------
Some words definitely give me a mini orgasm because of their meaning or how it sounds to say them.
Recently I am rereading Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins & I discovered the word 'mephitic'. I love when books have words that are new to me that I can look up then or save to look up later. Not sure how I missed this word the previous times I read this book but I have it now. Delightful!
Mephitic means "noxious stench from atmospheric pollution" according to google search. In this case Robbins is referring to smells that stick to the walls of old apartments through "generations of salmon cakes frying and broccoli boiling".
What a useful word. And it rolls off the tongue.
Undine means mythological figure of European tradition, "a water nymph who becomes human when she falls in love with a man but is doomed to die if he is unfaithful to her" according to google search.
Shillelagh means a wooden walking stick or club usually made from a Blackthorn branch with a knot or knob on top often associated with Ireland or Irish folklore. Mr Robbins, of course, uses it to indicate a penis ready to perform it's intended duty.
Plangent means deep, low expression of sadness - sad wretched melancholy
Lambent means playing lightly on or over a surface - light sparkling humor
While 5 wordgasms is sufficient to make one sleep like the dead for several days - Mr Robbins is relentless in his hedonistic pursuits & has given me orgasms of a different nature (though none physical) to be discussed in another blogpost.
