Appreciating Our Tailwinds
On Freakonomics Radio, Stephen Dubner explores things you always thought you knew (but didn’t) and things you never thought you wanted to know (but do).
What if we could spend as much time reflecting on our lives as we do on the economy or the stock market? There is a podcast that does exactly that. It is called Freakonomics Radio. Their logo reflects this approach. When we look more deeply, what appears on the surface to be an apple is actually an orange.
They recently did a show entitled Why Is My Life So Hard? It seems that most people feel like this. In fact, perhaps everyone feels this way. How can that be? They explain that we focus too much on the obstacles in ours lives and not enough on the "invisibles" that effortlessly propel us along. Some of this is natural. We have to focus on the obstacles because they are in our way and we need to avoid them. But afterwards we just focus on the next obstacle. Our lives quickly become one of obstacles rather than one of appreciation for what we already have. We are always wanting what is next without ever reflecting on what we already have. This is called the hedonic treadmill and it is an exhausting way to live. The antidote is to focus less on our headwinds and more on our tailwinds.
