It is very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that happiness is just around the corner. Many everyday positive experiences pass by without being noticed, appreciated, or enjoyed. How can you respond to these good things in ways that emphasize their positive effects?
Savoring is a way to notice and enjoy positive experiences that are already present in our day-to-day lives. Making a conscious choice each day to notice and savor the things we like is an effective way to balance the negative effects of stress, promote resilience in the face of adversity, and increase positive emotions.
You do not need to wait passively for an extraordinary life event to occur to savor and enhance positive emotions.
In reality, opportunities to savor pleasant experiences can be found almost anywhere, even while experiencing challenging life events. The number of positive experiences you have is much more critical than how special or exceptional those experiences are. In other words, it is more beneficial to savor those ordinary (yet pleasant) everyday activities rather than wait for extraordinary life events that do not happen very often.
The goal of this exercise is to help you deliberately create savoring rituals around small, everyday moments of pleasure. In this way, you may learn to stop, notice, enjoy, and prolong the positive experiences that can be found in everyday activities.
Take a few moments to think about enjoyable activities that you can pursue and savor during an average day. These could include your morning cup of coffee, a hot bath, or a short stroll in the sunshine during your lunch hour. You should ensure that the activities are common sources of pleasure and enjoyment for you…
List those activities:
You must choose to savor two enjoyable experiences each day for at least two weeks. Choose these from ordinary activities in your daily routine that you might typically rush through.
Use as many of your senses as possible.
What do you see, smell, hear, feel taste? For instance, if you have chosen your morning coffee as one of your pleasurable experiences, try to pay attention to the smell of freshly ground coffee. What words would you use to describe this? Rich? Sweet? Earthy? Close your eyes for that first sip.
At the end of each week, take some time to record your reflections on creating your savoring rituals.
Recall as many of the positive emotions that you experienced and savored in the past seven days as you can…. Write them down.
- Looking back over the past seven days, have you noticed more positive emotions compared to your typical week?
- When you think back on your savoring experiences, do you feel more appreciative of small moments of pleasure?
- Did you find that savoring certain moments made these experiences more pleasurable than before?
- Do you find yourself looking forward to savoring these activities in the future?
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