How do you live a happier life? Pay Attention to What Happens Throughout

As 2024 draws to a close, people look back to evaluate their lives and think about what can be done in 2025 to achieve a more fulfilling existence. In doing so, you may encounter a puzzle: Why do you have some wonderful things in your life—perhaps a fulfilling career, a loving family, a comfortable home—but these things have only a limited impact on your daily happiness?

At the same time, there can be not-so-big things around us—relationship rifts, online rudeness, inefficiency at work—and it seems we often get used to these ailments, so we’re less likely to try to change them. .

In other words, we stop noticing what is always there. How can you change this?

Recognizing habituation

Habituation is a key feature of our brain – the tendency to respond less and less to things that are constant or frequent.

Imagine you walk into a teahouse. At first, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee is noticeable, but after about 20 minutes, you can no longer smell it. Your olfactory neurons stop responding – they habituate. Just as you get used to the smell of coffee, you can get used to the more complex aspects of your life.

The challenge then is to re-sensitize both the great things in life so we can feel joy, and the terrible things we don’t realize we could potentially change if we tried. So how do we dismake a habit?

Break up the goodness

The answer lies in this wonderful quote from economist Tibor Scitovsky: “Pleasure arises from the incomplete and intermittent satisfaction of desires.”

Consider a song you like – would you enjoy it more if you listened to it continuously from start to finish or in short bursts? 99 percent of people say no to interruptions. However, research shows that people enjoy the song more as they listen to it intermittently. Why? If you listen to a song over and over again, the joy it gives at the beginning diminishes over time. Intermissions, however, cause downtime, so the joy level rises again every time the song repeats.

To combat addiction and maximize pleasure, we must consume the good things in life all at once. Whether it’s a Netflix show, chocolate cake, or a new romance—savour rather than drink.

Absorb evil

On the other hand, if you have to complete an unpleasant task – housework, admin tasks – do them all at once. Research shows that people have less trouble breathing if they have to constantly listen to an unpleasant noise (such as a loud noise). If you experience the noise continuously, the “pain” it causes at the beginning diminishes over time. Interruptions, however, cause disability, so that every time the noise starts again, the level of suffering rises again.

Experiments in Living

What about those aspects of your life that you suspect may be causing you stress and anxiety, but you can’t really tell how much they’re affecting you because they’re always there, so you don’t try to change them? They appear in the background like the constant noise of an air conditioner – you don’t realize how negative the noise is until someone turns it off and suddenly you feel better.

Take a look at social media: Is it negatively affecting you? In one to learnresearchers paid half of the participants $100 each to quit the social media platform for a month, while the other half continued with their lives as usual. At the end of the experiment, the “exit” group was happier and less stressed. Most importantly, they were surprised. They didn’t realize how negatively the platform was affecting them.

Experience living in 2025. Remove some items from your daily routine for a while, one at a time, and add a few new ones. Measure and evaluate the impact on your life so you can maintain the qualities that lead to happiness and purpose and eliminate those that don’t.