Savor. Your Life Will Improve, I Promise.

But HOW does one savor, you ask? Don’t worry, I’ve shared some of the best, most practical tips for how to do it (or how to even start), below. Because really in the end, all we have is a collection of memories we’ve savored, right?

(The full podcast is here, from one of my all time favorites, Hidden Brain.)

(aka, “yes, in theory I know that savoring is important, but HOW do I do it in real life?”)

• Use that nose. When you’re in the middle of something you want to remember, stop. Close your eyes for a moment. And smell. Yes, take in a few deep inhales. Smell is our strongest tie to memory, because of the way smells enter our brains (this is seriously fascinating; if you want to dive down a rabbit hole here, feel free.)

• Let someone else plan. Studies have shown that the more stress and thought you put into enjoying something, the less you enjoy it. So don’t overthink it! (Ha - easier said than done!). But seriously: do the new thing, take the trip, and see what happens if you try your best to not have any expectations. Have some experiences once in a while where you let someone else plan the thing, and you just go along.

• DON’T name your feelings when you want to savor. It might sound counterintuitive, but during the moment you want to savor, try NOT to name your feelings. Just be. Studies have shown that the more we continually monitor in real time, the less we enjoy something.

• Name one good thing from today, every day. The mind naturally wants to focus on the negatives in life (it’s called the “negativity bias”. Why do we do it? Survival, and other things… read more here. So to savor life, combat that urge. Actively remember the positives from the day/experience afterward, even though there may have been many negatives.

• Get up and walk away. If you’re in the middle of something you want to remember (like a party or a graduation), walk away, view the scene from an outside perspective, and take it in for a moment. One of the best ways to remember something is to gain perspective on it from the outside.

• Stop taking so many photos! I know, I know… I’m guilty of this too. But, when we take photos of something we want to remember, we succumb to something called the “photo-taking-impairment-effect”, which majorly affects our ability to remember. Seriously, you don’t need 100 photos of your kid’s play. (Here are some tips on better ways to take photos.)

• Those who do, teach. We spent an inordinate amount of time teaching our kids how to cope with adversary and challenge. For good reason. But, do we ever spend any time teaching our kids to savor? If we spend even a 10th of our time doing that, we set them up for a lifetime of happiness, satisfaction, and even resilience. And who doesn’t want that for their kid?

And finally, a special treat at the end that you’ve all been waiting for (for those of you who made it to the end!)