Two ideas - Anchoring and Loves for the Sub-Human

I started reading another book by C.S. Lewis this morning called the "Four Loves." The first type of "love" that he discusses is the love/like that we all experience for things that are not human such as a pleasant smell or a glass of water when we are thirsty. He describes how a person loves the smell of sweet peas when he passes a garden on his morning walk or how a wine aficionado loves wine so much that even on his death bed when he knows he will never drink wine again he would be mortified if a bottle of fine claret were wasted on a person who did not appreciate it.

When I read the section about the person who loves the smell of sweet peas on his morning walk it made me ask myself why I don't take the time to appreciate little things like that. I don't even go for walks and I live right next to a park that is, in all honesty, probably one of the nicest parks in the Phoenix area. I can't say that I wasn't a little ashamed of myself. I really should go for walks and appreciate nature a little more than I do. However, I have a little theory about why I have forgotten to appreciate things like that and I read about it in a different book a month or so ago.

When I read "The Paradox of Choice" by Barry Schwartz there was a section on something that he called Anchoring. In the book he theorized that the amount of pleasure we derive from any given source is affected by the amount of pleasure we would expect to receive from a given alternative. For example, if you were going to buy a pair of shoes you would be ecstatic if you bought them and knew that because you bought them you would no longer have to walk around barefoot. The anchor is going around barefoot. When compared to that a pair of shoes is a wonderful thing. However, if you don't anchor your purchase against being barefoot and instead just anchor your purchase against the other possible options, your purchase will probably only be a little bit better or the same as any other choice that you may have chosen. When you look at it this way, the pleasure that you derive from the shoes decreases drastically.

I think my lack of appreciation for things like the smell of sweet peas might be a result of what I anchor pleasurable things against. The smell of sweet peas is, at best, a small source of pleasure. It's not something, about which, you're going to sit down at the end of the day and say "I smelled sweet peas today, today is a good day." There are a lot of things in my life that I find pleasure in but the reality is that most of them are bigger than the smell of sweet peas. My girlfriend, good books, a business, friends, food, playing sports - all of these things I'd say cause me more pleasure than sweet peas ever could and as a result, when I experience things similar to the smell of sweet peas, I don't derive much pleasure from them because there are plenty of other things that are a source of greater pleasure for me. However, I recognize this as a shortfall for me. When I experience simple things I need to stop and recognize them as a gift in and of themselves. I shouldn't compare them to anything else other than not having been able to experience them at all. I think I will be a happier and more appreciative person if I can start looking at good things this way and maybe it will inspire me to go out and look for simple pleasures on a regular basis.

Poetry

"Here I sit all broken hearted, tried to shit but only farted. Then one day I took a chance, tried to fart but shit my pants."

I read that on the wall in a bathroom stall in a truck stop one time. I can't lie, it made me laugh. Anyway, I can't remember ever writing poetry but It's my girlfriends birthday and I just got off the phone with her and she was telling me I should write a blog in a different genre than I usually do. I think I'll try my best at a poem but I wanted to warn anybody reading this that I have no idea what I'm doing and when I finish I'm going to publish the post but it's probably going to be pretty embarrassing. Here it goes... 

It's been five minutes since I finished the paragraph above and I don't know where to start,

I think I remember something about how poetry is supposed to come from the heart?

I can tell that if this poem is going to have any length at all it's going to take some time,

I think I remember something about how poems are supposed to rhyme?

Aren't they supposed to have a certain number of syllables too?

Or maybe that's just the Japanese Haiku?

I don't know, I've never done this, maybe it'll be best if I just use my wrist,

To position my hands over the keys, while sitting outside under the trees.

Haha, I'm lying, I'm just in my room, thinking of another word that'll rhyme with room, Broom!

That's it, broom rhymes with room and another word that rhymes with those two is tomb ;)

You know Dr. Sues used to be one of my favorite authors as a young lad,

I liked "Hop on Pop" because the drawings in it were rad.

That verse a couple lines back with broom, room and tomb reminded me of Dr. Sues.

You know what else reminds me of Dr. Sues? A big yellow caboose. 

Okay, time to make a point, poetry might not be for me.

But it was fun to try and I'm glad other people do it with glee, lol.

Happy Birthday Renee! I hope you liked my incredibly cheesy/awful poem ;)