Dr. Laurie Santos has four ways to thwart hedonic adaptation (the idea that you get used to the way it is and your happiness weigns) and improve your happiness.  Today, we continue talking about Savoring, but this time, identifying what we might be doing that is hurting our ability to savor. 

Transcript:

Welcome to Everyday Happiness where we create lasting happiness, in 2 minutes a day,  through my signature method of Intentional Margins® (creating harmony between your to-dos and your priorities), happiness science, and musings about life. 

I'm your host Katie Jefcoat and I was listening to the Yale happiness course by Dr. Laurie Santos and yesterday, we talked about how we can savor an experience to increase our happiness.  But what are the things we are doing that we might not even realize, that are completely hurting our ability to savor and get the happiness boost we’re after.  

Well, she goes back to the Jose Et Al (2012) study where they explain what these common things are that we do that is counterintuitive to happiness.  And, when I heard some of these, I could totally see myself doing this, which is why I wanted to devote an entire episode to this.  

The study finds that focusing on the future, when will this present experience be over, crushes any hopes of savoring.  I am a futurist, I’m constantly looking into the future and I totally see how this has shown up in my life and I’m curious, has this ever happened to you? 

Other things are thinking this is not as good as you hoped.  Reminding yourself that nothing lasts forever - in a doom and gloom way.  Thinking about how this experience will never be this good again.  Or, thinking about ways this experience could be better.  Or even letting that voice in your head tell you that you didn’t deserve this good thing.  

All of these things are taking you out of the present moment which hinders our happiness. So, as I reflect on savoring, I invite you to think about how this shows up in your own life.   

Of course, feel free to continue the conversation over @everydayhappinesswithkatie or in our email that you can subscribe to at katiejefcoat.com/happiness. 

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