In this episode, we're working on our element of Savoring... and this time, we're savoring the present moment (we savored the past last episode). One of the powerful aspects of this type of savoring is that it really helps us anchor our attention to our experience of savoring vs focusing (or relying) on the actual event. That means we can drum up savoring at any moment and use it as a tool to shift mood in a more positive direction. Tune in for some key strategies and one common obstacle... FOBO (yes, it's different than FOMO).

 

Key Takeaways:

• Savoring is about focusing on our experience of pleasure. That means it's more experience focused rather than event focused. Research has shown that savoring neutral events can even be as powerful as savoring big celebrations.
• Bryant and Veroff note that “To savor an experience, one must possess and apply a certain degree of mindfulness and meta-awareness.” This means the more present we are, the more we can savor. The more we savor, the more we remember (which enables more savoring of the past!).
• Have you heard about slow-twitch dopamine? Henry just made it up, but it's really cool! That's kind of how we can interpret savoring. It lengthens out our enjoyment and nourishes us more.
• One key obstacle: FOBO (fear of being over). This is a common experience where we let the realization that something is going to end pull us from the present moment. When this happens, we lose the opportunity to savor. 
• Savoring can help us be with this understanding of impermanence and even improve our experience in the moment.
• JOBO (we're loving the acronyms this episode!) can actually help us move beyond FOBO.
• Mindful photography is a fantastic practice to savor in the present moment, particularly when FOBO rises up. 

 

Links and Sources Mentioned:

• Joy Lab Program (step-by-step practices to help you build and maintain the elements of joy in your life)
• Classic book on Savoring (Bryant and Veroff)
• Current Progress and Future Directions for Theory and Research on Savoring (2021)
• Amy Bloom's website
• Up-regulating positive emotions in everyday life: Strategies, individual differences, and associations with positive emotion and well-being
• Reward-motivated learning: mesolimbic activation precedes memory formation
• Judy Weiser's website on phototherapy and applications
• Saving the Last for Best: A Positivity Bias for End Experiences
• Positive Psychology Progress: Empirical Validation of Interventions. (Seligman, et al.)
• Consciousness of subjective time in the brain
• Chased by the Light (book by Jim Brandenburg)
• Courage and Light (video series with Jim Brandenburg and Parker Palmer)

 

Full transcript available at: https://www.naturalmentalhealth.com/podcasts/joy-lab-podcast/episodes/2147840455