Why does my granola bar taste so amazing at the top of a 14er or a long bike ride? Or Ramen noodles taste like a 5 star meal when camping? A much more enjoyable experience compared to that same granola bar while sitting in traffic? The view, low stress, and mountain top sure have an influence, as do the memories created. Awareness of what we are eating, intentionality, joy, gratitude, engagement, circumstance, and appreciation of the granola bar also increases positive emotions and memory. Savoring is a way of mindfully experiencing a sensation, moment, or experience and later recalling on it.
Today was the first real snow of the year here in Breckenridge (October 9). The house was quite chilly, 51 degrees to be exact. I walked over to thermostat, turned the heat on for the first time this fall, and presto magic, God said, let there be heat. Often this would have been something done with little thought.

Instead of taking this warmth for granted, I savored. Sitting down with my dog, Linus, next to a vent. Smelling the warm air as it came out of the vent, feeling the dust from a summer of dormancy, letting the warmth hit my tongue, immediately I felt cozier, safer, more at home. Realizing and accepting that many people sleep outside in the freezing cold with no reprieve, I push a button, gratitude betakes me. All day I have been more present and aware of the heat, and how incredible it is, my home, my warm home. Choose savoring.

Definitions of Savoring
According the amazing Positive Psychology Professor Kimberly Carmitchel:

“Savoring is the use of thoughts to increase the intensity, duration, and appreciation of positive experiences and emotions. A prerequisite of savoring is that we first must be fully present in every aspect of an experience; fully experiencing how our body feels, the details of the experience that made it rich, and then calling up the memory and resting in the experience for a number of minutes.” (2018)
“Noticing and appreciating the positive aspects of life the positive counterpart to coping. Savoring is more than pleasure – it also involves mindfulness and “conscious attention to the experience of pleasure” (Bryant & Veroff, 2007)
“Savoring occurs when we deliberately try to enhance the positive – to prolong a good experience.” (Niemiec, 2016)
Savoring feels like intentionally and intensely experiencing something to enhance, and intensify the positive experience, subsequently connecting an accessible memory. Almost like a little memory bank of “awesomeness” to access a later date.

Quotes of Savoring

“We should learn to savor some moments to let time feel worth existing.” ~Munia Khan

“Forever is composed of nows.” ~Emily Dickinson

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt

“Happiness, not in another place but this place…not for another hour, but this hour.” ~Walt Whitman

“Be present in all things and thankful for all things.” ~Maya Angelou

Research on Savoring and Happiness
If a person savors a positive experience or encounter in life, he or she will lead a more enjoyable, fulfilling, and richer life (Bryant, 2003; Langston, 1994).
“We found significant relationships between positive events and mood – more specifically, momentary positive events were positively related to momentary happy mood. In addition, as hypothesized, we also found that momentary positive events were positively related to momentary savoring, and momentary savoring responses, in turn, were positively related to momentary happy mood. Thus, it seems that these three constructs are significantly related to each other at a given moment in time” (Jose, Lim, & Bryant, 2012, p. 185)

Related Concepts

• Mindfulness
• Intention setting
• Self-awareness
• Sense Engagement
• Presence in the moment
• Gratitude

How to Better Savor

• Engage in the experience. “What is needed to savor an experience in a positive way is to engage fully in the experience and to be conscious and mindful of every detail you can take in and to appreciate it fully” (Soots, 2015).
• Find as many specific details as you can. No detail, observation or feeling is too small to enhance the experience.
• Use all of your senses. Go through each sense individually and experience it. Truly experience smell, taste, feel, sight, and sound. Experience each in your own way.
• Go beyond your senses. Memories, spirits, souls, energy, and feeling all go beyond the knowledge and awareness of these limited by design tools and into a deeper aspect of ourselves. Songs, smells, tastes, and experiences go well beyond our present awareness and knowledge.
• Be present in the moment. Even if you can only escape the mind demons for a moment, be there, present for that moment, or series of moments. You have never been in this moment before, and will never be in it again, so savor it now.
• Think about any past memories it triggers. Certain smells/sounds/tastes/feels make us think of certain places, experiences, emotions and people. When savoring think about what may come to your mind, explore these ideas deeper.
• Who would you like to share this experience with? Think about specific people you want to be here, or people that you wish to bring this experience to. Why would she or he enjoy it? How would it be enhanced
• Write down the experience. This will help stimulate your ability to recall the event and deepen, prolong, and enhance the savoring experience.
• Mindfulness. Be intentionally aware of the experience. Be mindful of breathing and self while experiencing and recalling.
• Focus. Be mentally stronger, challenge yourself to truly focus on
• Slow down, stop, and Prolong. Rushing through things does not truly allow you to experience all the situation may have to offer. Stop and smell the roses/bread/fresh air/cookies/pine/whatever
• With food, chew longer. Intentionally and mindfully, slow down your eating. Savor each bite, noticing flavors, textures, feelings, everything.
• Journal and Use your “fifty cent words.” Use detail, the best, most accurate, and descriptive words that make your English professor (and mother in my case) proud.

Savoring Activities

• Define and explain what savoring is for you.
• Pick something that you really enjoy spend X amount of time (at least 3 minutes), be intentional, experiencing as best and deeply as you can using the tips above and your own ideas. Then after, write about the experience. What did it feel like? What memories did it trigger? How will use this in the future. Up to you to reflect on the experience. Here are some suggestions for what to savor, but it is up to you.

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• The Fabulous Nicole Fazande has her Positive Psychology students:
  • Take a photo or collect a souvenir from an experience
  • Tell a family member about the experience
  • In class we will be savoring a variety of foods and sharing the memories, sensations, and experiences we all have and writing about the experience.
    • For a full minute, consider how lucky you were to to enjoy such a wonderful moment
• Chocolate Meditation: Savoring Life’s Sweetness

References, Readings, and Resources
Bryant, F. & Veroff, J. (2007). Savoring: A new model of positive experience. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Bryant, F.B. (2003). Savoring Beliefs Inventory (SBI): A scale for measuring beliefs about savouring. Journal of Mental Health, 12, 175–196
Carmitchel, K. (2018). Email correspondence.
Langston, C.A. (1994). Capitalizing on and coping with daily-life events: Expressive responses to positive events. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 1112–1125.
Niemiec, R. (2016, February). Being Positive: It’s Not Mindfulness, It’s Savoring. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-matters-most/201602/being-positive-it-s-not-mindfulness-it-s-savoring
Scoots, L(2015, April 18). The Art of Positive Savouring. The Positive Psychology People. Retrieved from http://www.thepositivepsychologypeople.com/the-art-of-positive-savouring/
Jose, P., Lim, T, & Bryant, F. (2012). Does savoring increase happiness? A daily diary study, The Journal of Positive Psychology. 7:3, 176-187. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241737020_Does_savoring_increase_happiness_A_daily_diary_study [accessed Oct 09 2018].