Professor Z Zinter delivers a talk “Why the Good Stuff Doesn’t Last: The Psychology of Gratitude, Savoring and Taking Things for Granted.” Why do things we once desperately wanted eventually start to feel… normal? A new job, an accomplishment, a relationship, a purchase or even a positive change in our lives can make us happy—and then, remarkably quickly, we get used to it. Psychologists call this hedonic adaptation, and it reveals something fascinating about how the human mind works. In this talk, we’ll explore why we’re so good at adapting, and what research on gratitude, savorin, and attention can teach us about noticing what we’ve learned to overlook. Along the way, we’ll consider a curious possibility: that appreciating what we have may depend less on changing our circumstances and more on changing what we notice.