If you have a few minutes (20 or so), here’s an interesting segment of a talk by the Nobel prize winning inventor of “behavioral economics”, Daniel Kahneman. The topic concerns two types of happiness which can easily come apart: that of the “experiencing self”, and that of the “remembering self”.
Interesting stuff….a somewhat related idea that I toy around with is how different art forms are experienced…for example, I find that my appreciation for a piece of music increases with additional listenings, and continues to increase until it reaches a certain point, whatever that point is. Whereas when I see a film or a play for the first time, it affects me the most that first time and in additional viewings, it gradually loses its power over me, decreasing with each repeated play..
I know what you mean. There are only a few films I wanted to see more than once, although I like most of what I take the time to see… they tend to pass like dreams for me (and I similarly have trouble remembering the ones I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a lot). Music is a different story, but an unpredictable one. Most of the time, if I like a piece immediately, I’ll like it even more the more I hear it. I can easily listen to music I like 50-100 times – and sometimes many more – without tiring of it. On the other hand, music I can usually identify music I don’t like within twenty or thirty seconds on first exposure (and in far less time if the genre is one I tend to dislike), and I’ll avoid it like the plague forever after. Go figure.