The Art of Savoring

Source: Katie Willard Virant

Call to mind a bite of food you find pleasing. It might be a juicy berry, a piece of creamy chocolate, or a buttery kernel of salty popcorn. Now imagine it on your tongue—the flavor, the texture. What does it feel like to imagine this experience of tasting? Perhaps you feel relaxed and content. Perhaps your lips instinctively curl up in a smile. Perhaps you feel a rush of well-being in your body.

Congratulations—you’ve just engaged in what psychologists call “savoring.” Savoring is defined as “the capacity to attend to, appreciate, and enhance the positive experiences in one’s life (Bryant, 2021).” This skill of savoring has been linked to increased life satisfaction, including in populations living with health issues (Smith & Bryant, 2016).

More than simply experiencing a positive event, savoring is the mindful appreciation of that positive event. Savoring can occur with respect to present positive experiences (experiencing a pleasurable occurrence in real-time), past positive experiences (calling up the memory of a pleasurable occurrence), and future positive experiences (anticipating a pleasurable experience). Savoring can be reactive—spontaneously responding to an unanticipated positive experience; it can also be proactive—deliberately seeking out or creating a positive experience.

Savoring Strategies

Researchers have identified “savoring strategies” that build and reinforce our capacity to savor positive experiences. One core strategy is sharpening our senses’ receptivity to positive experiences. For example, one might walk through a field of yellow flowers and think, “This is a pretty sight.” It’s a terrific start, but savoring the moment involves pausing and opening all of our senses to the experience. We may notice the flowers moving slightly in the breeze; we may smell the grassy odor of the surrounding area; we may hear the birds calling to each other; we may touch a flower petal and marvel at its soft delicacy.

As we take in through our senses the layers of experience, we turn to our inner interpretation of what we are sensing. Perhaps we fondly remember other nature walks; perhaps the yellow flowers cause us to associate back to a yellow room we liked as a child. Maybe we imagine painting the scene in front of us or describing this moment to a loved one. Maybe our mind expands to similar scenes in places where we have traveled.

We let our minds stay open to associations—including memories and wishes—called forth by our present experience. We toggle back and forth between processing the external experience (the scene before us) and the internal experience (how we interpret the scene). We notice what happens in our bodies as a response to this connection between interior and external words: Perhaps we feel an expansive feeling of awe in the center of our body; perhaps we feel a quiet warmth of gratitude.

Dampening: Interruption of Savoring

This process of savoring can be interrupted by painful thoughts and feelings. Examples of thoughts and feelings that might dampen the experience of savoring the field of yellow flowers include the following: “It’s stupid to get excited over some dumb wildflowers.” “I don’t deserve nice experiences.” “These flowers don’t take away the hard things in my life.” Be curious about where these thoughts and feelings come from and what purpose they serve. Often, people attempt to protect themselves from disappointment by steeling themselves against savoring, believing that keeping suffering at the forefront of their minds will better prepare them for when hard things inevitably befall them.

Savoring does not take away illness, nor does it take away the suffering we experience as a result of our illness. But savoring does offer perspective. We experience pain, we experience loss, and we experience the suffering that comes from awareness of pain and loss. And we also experience joy, wonder, and pleasure. Savoring allows us to keep hold of these experiences, to know ourselves as full human beings capable of both grief and happiness.

Trying It Out

• Make a list of what gives you pleasure. Don’t think too hard about this—just write anything that comes to mind: your wife’s laugh, the way the sun streams in your kitchen window, how it feels to drift off to sleep at night, etc.
• Choose an experience from your list and anticipate it—imagine what it will be like—before you actually experience it. Notice what this anticipation feels like.
• Savor the experience. Gently acknowledge any dampening thoughts and try to set them aside. It won’t be perfect, and that’s OK. Enjoy the positive sensations you are able to feel.
• Take a mental snapshot of the experience. You’ll want to remember it to call up later.
• Share your experience with a friend. Pull out that mental snapshot and describe it to someone you care about.
• Congratulate yourself on practicing this skill. You’ve invested in your well-being, and that is something to celebrate.