"Hedonic Adaptation" is what happens to you a few weeks after you buy that new car--you adapt to your new toy and it loses it's luster. Or if you move from drizzle Washington to sunny California. You'll be pumped for a while, but gradually you'll level out.

Maybe this is why rockstars and actors seemingly kill themselves more often than the general public. Can you adapt to getting everything you want all the time? Become numb to pleasure?

On the positive side, this term also refers to when life takes a turn for the worse. For instance, if you cut your finger off with a pruning shears, you will be severly depressed at first, but over time you will adapt to it. Yes, the loss of your finger will continue to suck; however, the suckiness will gradually decrease over time, and although you will never look back on your accident with fondness, you will learn to type, play tennis, etc, with four fingers.

Apparently, you can slow down this adaptation by taking breaks. So if you were Caligula of hedonic Rome, it would behoove you to take breaks during feasting, orgies, gladiatorial battles, and the like. Or in the modern day, take a break during a massage, between episodes of "Dexter", whatever.

For stuff you hate to do, on the other hand, just knock that out all at once. The pain starts off more intense, but as time goes by, decreases, right? Taking a long break in the middle of yard work or taxes is going to make the whole process that much worse... or so the theory goes.

BTW, I learned about hedonic adaptation from the book I just finished: The Upside of Irrationality