We took this photo 6 years ago in Omotesando, just after we had purchased the venerable EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 super wide angle for our Canon Kiss Xti.  This was the beginning of our photographic period where we were fascinated with ultra wide perspectives, skies and strong architectural leading lines.

A lot has changed in the past six years - we remember how long we had to scrimp and save in order to afford the $700 price tag for this lens.  Now we’ll drop that on a single night at a hotel or a nice dinner for two without even thinking.

We’ve been thinking a lot about Eysenck’s “hedonic treadmill” these days. Our thoughts are not yet together to the point where we can write about it, but we’ve begun to examine further what, if anything, can effect a longer-term increase in our baseline life satisfaction (“happiness set point”) beyond those short term hedonic pleasures in life: buying nice things, eating delicious foods, traveling to exotic locations…

In this life, there were things we used to want, and then we set our mind to them and we got them.  Each time, those things we wanted… they made us happier, but only in the short term…

At the same time, there is no denying that we are overall, fundamentally in a much better and happier place in our lives than 6 years ago when this photograph was taken.  In the immediate moment we don’t necessarily feel it - we still have small first world problems interrupting our everyday, stresses at work and mundane worries such as losing weight :) - but on the whole we are fundamentally much, much happier if we take a step back and examine our lives on the whole.

The secret to what it is that we did to affect this fundamental increase in our baseline happiness set point - and even if that was real - bears further examination in order to ensure that we can continue this behaviour into the future…