🐀 TREE 797: Rat Park

This week, TREE is written by my supremely talented colleague Lois Payne. Lois is The writer on my team in my day job. She’s also better than me at ping pong, which is super annoying. You’re stuck with me for the music selections. —Jeff

If you need to remember what’s important in life, this story might help.

In the 70s, a Canadian psychologist conducted an experiment, housing two groups of rats in very different environments.

He isolated the first group in small cages with little to stimulate them. The second, he put in a kind of rat sanctuary with ample food, space and company to occupy them – a so-called ‘Rat Park’.

Then the psychologist offered the rats a choice. Water laced with morphine or plain water.

Now, while the Rat Park residents tried the solution, they unanimously preferred the plain water. The rats in the first group though, always chose the morphine.

As humans we self-sabotage in a ton of ways. Overdoing food, alcohol, drugs, TV, procrastination, to name a few.

But what would happen if we channelled everything into filling our lives with the important things in life? Deciding what we think is worthwhile and beautiful, and consciously making more space for those things? Dedicating each day to carefully curating our own Rat Park? Maybe we’d turn away from the morphine too.

The basics of a great life are the same for everyone: healthy food, meaningful relationships, exercise, sunlight – just like every house has four walls, a roof, a door.

But how we furnish it, whether we get our joy from crocheting or cooking or deep-sea diving, is entirely up to us.

I think that’s pretty cool.

Jack White’s new album is superb.