Activity 4: Savoring Life’s Joys
Lyubomirsky talks against “postponing our happiness” (living for the weekend) and instead suggests this happiness activity of savoring life's joys by “thinking of savoring as having a past, present, and future component.”
Living in the present is self-explanatory, but it’s also possible to savor the past by reminiscing on happy times and to savor the future by fantasizing about upcoming events.
Whichever moment of time you’re savoring, practicing this habit is related to “intense and frequent happiness.” I found it fascinating that what those savored—the past, present, or future—had different benefits:
Those who practiced savoring the...
PAST --> handled stress best.
PRESENT --> were less likely to experience depression, stress, guilt, and shame.
FUTURE --> were more likely to be optimistic and experience intense emotions.
Being from California, I had never gone home over spring break before, instead choosing to stay here and work and relax. Last minute this semester, my parents offered to fly me home, which I jumped at because I’m trying to stay here over the summer and am not sure the next time I’ll find myself in Sacramento.
I went into spring break ready to live in the moment. Even though I had a long to-do list—continue interning remotely, apply to summer internships, and read a 500-page book for class, among other things—I wanted to relish spending time with my family.
Here are Lyubomirsky’s strategies to savor life’s joys:
Relish daily routines and ordinary experiences.
Savor and reminisce with family and friends.
Transport yourself to a different time or place.
Replay happy days.
Celebrate good news.
Be open to beauty and excellence.
Be mindful.
Take pleasure in the senses.
Create a savoring album.
Savor with your camera.*
Seek bittersweet experiences (acknowledgment of the good and bad can prompt you to focus on enjoying it).
Wax nostalgic (don’t compare the past to now, but experience it as adding meaning to your life).
I chose to focus on savoring with my camera, being mindful, and savor and reminisce with family over break.
*A note on savoring with your camera: it’s hard for some to live in the present while they snap away. For me, it helps me stay in the moment, but it’s not for everyone.
One especially savor-worthy, happy moment of spring break was all the mangoes I ate. There’s a vendor outside my brother’s elementary school who sells mangos con chile:
If you haven’t had one…please go have one. They’re so good. Anyways, I gave Alex, my brother, money to buy me one and I dreamt of it all day. Then my brother texted me and said that he. wasn’t. selling. them. yet. I was SO UPSET, unreasonably upset.
Then my mom and brother came home with this:
So I made my own mango con chile:
It wasn’t as good as the ones the vendor sells, but it was still really, really good.
I also wanted to capture my sister eating a mango, sans chile, since I just liked the bright yellow against the soft blue with the chipped red nails:
And, somewhat unrelated, but here’s a photo I took of my cat that I liked:
This also was a happy memory. Alex kept trying to distract Old Brother Patch (we let Alex name our cat when he was five, and that’s what he chose) while I took pictures. Not too many turned out, but it was fun.
Another moment over break I’ll savor forever was taking photos of my brother and his best friend (my second brother) skateboarding. I wanted to practice capturing motion and also just spend time with them.
Here are my favorites:
Here's a GIF of the double skateboard ollie:
At these points in time, I didn’t think about my to-do list or the time (something I always feel I NEED to know). And now, reflecting on them, I’m doing another savoring activity: wax nostalgic.
Today is gloomy, my chest hurts because the number of things I have to get done is overwhelming, and even though I’m in my favorite spot on campus (Paul), life feels kind of bleak.
I want to be back with my brother and sister in sunny Sacramento, but I can choose to feel grateful that I have these memories to savor, even if they're not my present.