is helpful and certainly important as we seek to understand a problem and move toward growth . But often , we need to experience something new in order to change our thinking or adopt a new action pattern . Knowing the warmth of God ’ s joy means not just knowing it exists but participating in this joy ourselves through the discipline of celebration .
One particularly beneficial practice is called savoring . Savoring celebrates the ordinary and helps us to retrain our brain to notice , name , and preserve the goodness in our lives . To engage in this exercise , one simply chooses one moment from their day ( either in the present moment or a memory from their day ) and ask their five traditional senses what they are going to remember about that moment . What do you see ? What do you hear ? What do you smell ? What do you taste ? and What do you feel ? This simple practice counteracts our brain ’ s natural tendencies and helps us celebrate by extracting more joy from the life we are already living . Afterall , a life worth celebrating is a life lived with God right where we are .
This is what I know : finding the courage to celebrate is not a journey but a quest . A journey
describes a passage of progress from one stage to another . There is a sense of openness as we wait to discover the meaning in our adventures and passively absorb joy along the way . I have nothing against journeys and have experienced many significant ones myself . But celebration is not one of them . Celebration is a quest — an active pursuit in search of something valuable and worthy of our attention . Because few among us simply drift toward joy .
Nicole Zasowski is a licensed marriage and family therapist and author of What If It ’ s Wonderful ? and From Lost to Found . She lives in Connecticut with her husband and three young children . Nicole would love to connect with you on her website : www . nicolezasowski . com , where you can download a free guide to help you navigate your own “ What if ” questions .
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