D
r Martin Seligman, the father of positive
psychology, notes that one of the three
keys for raising your happiness level is
getting more pleasure out of your life. The other
two involve finding meaning and being more
involved in what you do. Drawing greater pleasure
from life includes savouring the experiences that
you go through and learning to appreciate what you
have. The three steps you can take to increase the
pleasure that you have in life are:
Step 1: noticing the good things that you have or
that are going on around you
Step 2: savouring those positive ingredients in your
life
Step 3: being thankful for them.
When it comes to understanding what it means to
savour, some of the following sentiments have been
expressed:
It means getting as much good out of something –
such as an experience or situation – as possible.
As humans we have a natural tendency towards
negativity; this means that savouring is about
treating a negative event as we would a positive
one. Rather than mulling over what went wrong,
why it went wrong, and dwelling on the negative
emotions that we have, it is about realising how
good that event was, why it was so good, and how
positive we felt about it.
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Being fully
present
It is about being fully present in an experience.
We savour a situation when we bring all of our
senses to that which we are savouring.
It is about not multi-tasking but focussing in on
that one thing.
Some would say it’s about giving your full attention
to what is going on and absorbing the positivity.
Mindfulness is a word that is often equated with
savouring; it means to be fully present and aware of
what is going on around you and inside you.
We need to give ourselves permission, time, and
space to be in the moment.
Rather than seeing life as a destination, it is better
to perceive it as a journey, and to savour each step.
It requires slowing down and, on occasion,
stopping.
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