The Art of Savoring: How to Make Positive Experiences More Meaningful

Positive experiences can often be easy to overlook. You might experience an awe-inspiring sunset, have a joke-filled chat, eat an enjoyable meal, hear some good news, or complete something that you have been working hard on. However, rather than taking the time to experience the moment truly, you might immediately think about what is coming next.

Savoring provides an alternative to that mindset. Savoring is the practice of intentionally noting, enjoying, and extending positive experiences. Savoring allows you to get greater value out of the positive experiences you already have, rather than having to wait for something bigger or better to happen.

Savoring is not about forcing yourself to be happy or blocking out negative emotions. Savoring is simply about giving positive experiences the proper amount of attention so that you can really experience them. With practice, savoring can help you notice more joy, gratitude, connection, and other positive experiences in life.

What is savoring?

Savoring refers to the intentional experience of paying attention to a positive experience when it is happening or revisiting it at another time. One has to slow down and be aware of what brings pleasure, rather than going through the moment without noticing it.

For instance, one can drink one's favorite tea in silence. While doing that, one can either rush through the process while surfing on one's phone, or stop, take notice of the temperature of the drink, the way it tastes, and enjoy peace. The latter action is an example of savoring. Savoring may have a sensory, cognitive, emotional, and/or autobiographical nature. For example, one may savor tasting one's dinner, being with one's loved one, the accomplishment of some goal, or being in some beautiful location.

Savoring can take place before the positive experience itself, while it is happening, or later. Anticipation of something pleasant gives rise to positive feelings, full immersion into the process increases the intensity of one's experience, whereas reminiscing about it afterwards extends its influence on one's well-being.

Why Savoring Can Enhance Positive Experiences

Most positive experiences are fleeting. Praise is often short-lived, a great meal will come to an end, and a pleasurable conversation may soon turn into a reminiscence. Through savoring, people learn how to avoid forgetting their happy experiences right away.

By focusing on your positive experience, you give yourself the chance to appreciate all the nuances that surround the situation and make it pleasurable. Not just the enjoyment itself but all the small details that add up to that feeling. Savoring may also help you find meaning in positive experiences. Contrast the statement "That was nice" with the statement "Let me think for a moment about why it was nice." You see that the second statement requires more of your awareness.

Finally, positive experiences don't always end at the very moment when they happen. You can relive the happiness that they created by thinking about it, by looking at pictures, or by discussing your experience with someone else.

Practice Savoring Through Mindful Attention

An easy way to cultivate the practice of savoring involves focusing your undivided attention on the experience in question. A distraction may impede this process since some part of your attention is already occupied.

Whenever a positive experience occurs, do not rush ahead but pause and pay attention to all aspects of it. These can be visual, auditory, taste-related, olfactory, and sensory experiences, along with the emotions involved. If you spend quality time with a good friend, try to pay attention to the laughter, conversation, and emotions experienced while being around that person. If you spend time outdoors during a pleasant weather day, pay attention to its temperature, sounds, colors, and scenery.

You don't have to make every experience a deliberate mindfulness practice; just a few seconds will suffice in order to become more aware. What matters most is to experience the moment and not only notice it happening.

Express Your Appreciation

Being appreciative is a way to enhance the positive experience through noticing the aspects that you appreciate. In addition to experiencing something positive in silence, think of sharing the feeling. Tell the person that you had a great time with them. Thank your coworker for helping you out. Tell your family member that you appreciate what they did. Message someone who improved your mood today.

You can also be appreciative in private. Spend some time thinking about the reasons for valuing a particular experience or finding it meaningful. For instance, after having a family dinner, you might appreciate the atmosphere and closeness that you experienced. After accomplishing an important task, you might thank yourself for the hard work. Saying thank you will allow you to slow down and appreciate the experience instead of just moving on.

Capture Positive Moments Through Memory

Although savoring may come to an end when a pleasant experience is over, one can still go back to one's memory intentionally in order to recall and connect with it once again. Photographing meaningful experiences can be helpful, but this is not the only way of remembering. It can be a good idea to write about an experience in one's journal, to retell a story or just to contemplate it.

For instance, after having a meaningful day, you can jot down some facts about the experience. What has happened? Who was present? What made it so meaningful? How have you felt? One should note that it is not a way of dwelling on the past, but rather an appreciation of the experiences that have already provided something positive to your life. Thus, memory can become a way of savoring as well, as a positive experience of an hour can have further emotional importance while being remembered intentionally.

Share Your Positive Experiences With Others

Positive experiences may gain additional significance when they are shared. By discussing an event that was enjoyable, you are not only reliving that experience, but also growing closer to another person. For example, you've got some good news regarding an accomplishment of yours. Instead of rushing ahead to the next task, tell those people whom you trust about your success and explain how important it is to you.

You can do the same thing in case of ordinary events. Share a joke with your friends, recall a tasty meal with your relatives, or describe to them the beauty that you've found throughout the day. Thus, sharing savoring opens up some possibilities for connection.

Savor Everyday Experiences

It is unnecessary to reserve moments of savoring only for vacation time, special occasions, and accomplishments. The best possible sources of savoring are often found in mundane activities. For instance, you can savor your cup of morning coffee, some music, silence before starting work, a walk in the fresh air, your lunch or dinner, sunshine streaming through windows, or conversations with your loved ones.

What is crucial is not how remarkable or significant an experience is. What matters is how attentively you enjoy it. Try to pick one mundane experience per day to savor. For example, do not check messages while having lunch. Stop during your walk to observe your environment. Engage in a good conversation rather than responding to any notification. Such small exercises will add more pleasure to your daily routine, as they will allow you to appreciate your positive experiences.

Avoid Common Habits That Reduce Savoring

There are many daily practices which can unconsciously interfere with our ability to savor positive events. One such practice is rushing. After doing something you find pleasurable, you may be preoccupied by thinking about what comes next.

Similar effects may result from multitasking. If you are eating while surfing the internet, talking to someone while looking at your phone, or watching a film while working, you do experience a positive event, but only partially since your mind is not focused on it.

Comparison is another activity that diminishes pleasure. You stop focusing on the experience and start comparing it to some other experience you had or to the one you would prefer to have now. Thinking about the end of a positive event is yet another common habit. You are enjoying yourself on vacation while thinking about going back to work, spending time with friends while worrying about your duties tomorrow.

Savoring doesn't mean you should completely stop doing these kinds of activities. It only requires noticing that your mind drifts away and bringing it back to the present moment.

Conclusion

Savoring is a simple technique to make your good experiences more meaningful by paying more attention to them. Savoring is not about making your life one big happy adventure, but it allows you to notice the moments of joy, gratitude, connections, and satisfaction that are already present in your life.

Some ways to practice savoring include slowing down, engaging your senses, showing gratitude, storing memories and enjoying them, as well as sharing positive experiences with other people. Moreover, savoring can be integrated into regular activities and consists of being able to notice the moments that would normally pass unnoticed.

The importance of savoring lies in paying attention to them intentionally. It does not mean that only an extraordinary moment can have some meaning. Sometimes, the only thing that makes a pleasant experience a good one is your ability to notice it. Thus, the practice of savoring positive experiences will help you pay more attention to the good moments and keep their meanings with you after the experience itself is gone.

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