Grand Designs Extras Kevin's Column: Doing

Date Published:

05/02/2009

Why ‘doing’ rather than ‘owning’ is the best way to boost your mood in the current financial climate

In the current climate of doom and catastrophe let me pass on some advice. It’s important, amidst hardship and penury, to find pleasure in the non-material, in the ‘doing’ rather than ‘acquiring’. Aristotle would have exhorted us to find the pleasure inherent in our biological capacity as human beings. John Stuart Mill would have told us to read, think and pursue the higher abstract pleasures. St Augustine would have asked us to look into a flower. Well-known social psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi would have endorsed the Aristotelian view of pleasure deriving from doing and tell us about his ‘flow’ theory of being absorbed in an activity. I don’t think any of them suggested we go shopping.

I could ramble on about the value of life-long learning and the improving effect of jigsaws or growing your own vegetables. But instead I’ll just recommend you read Richard Sennett’s The Craftsman, a piece of modern philosophy about how doing something well for its own sake is one of the most pleasurable things in life. And among his list of crafts to practice are parenting and gardening and writing open-code Linux software that is free to share, as well as goldsmithing and woodcarving.

For happiness, ‘doing’ apparently beats ‘owning’. I always thought shopping was a form of doing. It’s active, involves a lot of effort (driving, finding a parking space, analysing cost comparisons, carrying bags, etc) and craftsmanship, too (finding the right parking space, not to mention the art of haggling over price). But it turns out that the pleasure of shopping is ephemeral and considered poo-poo material by most philosophers. It isn’t on the same scale as woodcarving because when we shop our brains get triggered to produce dopamine, a home-brew drug that gives us an instant high. Whereas spending eight months carving a piece of wood into a tiny Chartres cathedral produces serotonin, another mood-improving drug that apparently hangs around longer and induces a sense of well-being.

Most of us are hooked on dopamine. Any new or exciting experience, like discovering a herd of antelope ready to be speared for food, or finding the right pair of shoes, produces the stuff. It hits more effectively when you’re on foreign, new territory, like a shopping trip to New York, or when the discoveries are extraordinary, such as during the winter sales. Dopamine hits high and hard, but drops off quickly, leaving you with a sense of loss or disappointment plus the urge to buy more to get the rush again. Retail therapy doesn’t cure the low. It causes it.

Since America is the home of shopping, it’s not surprising to find it’s also the home of retail psychology with research departments at every other university, such as Emory, Kentucky and Indiana. Dr Ruth Engs of the latter august institution has even drawn up a list of shopping do’s and don’ts, including make a list and don’t impulse purchase; never go shopping when you visit friends and go when the shops are shut to get the dopamine high without the purchase. I’d add my one piece of good counsel, which is to leave your wallet or purse at home.

And if you do have to come away with some prize trophy for the hours of bargain-hunting, then make it something that you can appreciate day in, day out, and develop a relationship with. Make it something small, inexpensive, functional, comfortable and beautiful. For my money it has to be a cushion. Next month I promise to reveal to you the Aristotelian secrets of how cushions can introduce joy into your life, help you beat the credit crunch and beautify your home beyond belief.

Do you agree with Kevin? Let us know your thoughts by emailing info@granddesignsmagazine.com

This edition of Kevin's Column is taken from the March issue of Grand Designs magazine. If you would like to subscribe for as little as £9 then head here to find out more.

Back to top