\u201cSavoring is rebelling against yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When it comes to happiness<\/a>, we\u2019ve got to try every angle possible. Some people are born with serotonin-soaked synapses, while others aren\u2019t so lucky. The good news is that, according to Harvard University<\/a> social scientist and author Arthur C. Brooks<\/a>, there are techniques that can, in a sense, help our minds quickly move in the right direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a recent clip<\/a> posted to Facebook, Brooks explains the \u201cfour savoring techniques\u201d for elevating one\u2019s mood. As with many of his thoughts on psychological matters\u2014many<\/a> of which have been covered by Upworthy<\/em> staffers\u2014he gets straight to the point. As he writes on his website<\/a>, \u201cHappiness isn\u2019t a destination \u2014 it\u2019s a direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNumber one is what they call behavioral display, which means expressing positive emotion with nonverbal behaviors,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cSmile, even if you don\u2019t feel it. You\u2019ll fool your brain. You\u2019ll be happier because of this behavioral display. Smile more. Pretend you\u2019re happier. Go act happier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSecond, be present, which is mindfully focusing on the pleasant experience,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cAnd what that means is saying to yourself, \u2018I am doing this thing. I am sitting on the train looking out at a beautiful seascape.\u2019 Being present actually means saying the thing to yourself because you want to bring it from your subconscious into your prefrontal cortex\u2014 into your consciousness, where you\u2019re really thinking about something. And the way to do that is by saying it. And it\u2019s really unbelievably effective.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNumber three is capitalizing, which means talking about and celebrating positive experiences with others,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cDon\u2019t just say it to yourself. Say it to other people. Talk about the experience that you\u2019re actually having. Notice things to other people, which makes this even more conscious, even more concrete, even more permanent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd last but not least is what they call \u2018positive mental time travel,\u2019 which is vivid reminiscence or anticipation of positive events,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cTo savor the past on purpose, by paying attention to the positive parts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Savoring is a subject Brooks talks about often. In a clip<\/a> on Instagram, he shares not only the techniques people can try, but also why<\/em> they\u2019re worth trying. In the post, he writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSavoring is rebelling against yourself. We\u2019re wired to notice what\u2019s wrong before we notice what\u2019s good. That helped our ancestors survive, but it also means we move through life without fully experiencing the moments worth savoring. Savoring doesn\u2019t come naturally. It\u2019s a conscious act of pushing back against the brain\u2019s constant pull toward worry, vigilance, and the next thing. And in a culture that rewards speed and distraction, slowing down long enough to truly enjoy something requires conscious effort.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the clip, Brooks discusses how our brains are wired from an evolutionary standpoint to protect our survival:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re not evolved for savoring. We\u2019re evolved to rush through everything and pay attention to the negative. We have brains that were designed, more or less, in their current form something like 250,000 years ago in the late Pleistocene Era. And that was a dangerous time to be Homo sapiens. You had to pay attention a lot or you were gonna be a wild animal\u2019s lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So we have more brain space dedicated to negative emotions than positive emotions. That\u2019s what gives us what we call the negativity bias in our lives. Negativity bias means that life isn\u2019t that great all the time, but we\u2019re more likely to get to tomorrow or more likely to survive the night. That makes perfect evolutionary sense that your suspicious inner troglodyte is trying to survive and pass on your genes. You\u2019re not a saber-toothed tiger\u2019s lunch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut that negativity bias is now maladaptive,\u201d Brooks added. \u201cIt\u2019s basically an error that we would do that. That we would not savor, but rather that we\u2019d be suspicious and vigilant and trying to get into the future as quickly as possible. But that\u2019s why we have a prefrontal cortex so that we have decisions. We can make conscious decisions, and even though I have a negativity bias, I can override it with my consciousness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Upworthy<\/em> spoke with licensed therapist Matt Grammer<\/a>, who agrees that the four savoring techniques are helpful reminders that it\u2019s possible to sometimes short-circuit negativity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSavoring gives people the opportunity to slow down to register positive experiences, instead of continuing on in stress response mode,\u201d Grammer said. \u201cIt helps people attain equilibrium and improve emotional resilience and stress recovery and satisfaction in relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grammer also notes that life can feel tedious when we don\u2019t stop to reframe our thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThough people may experience objective positive reality, life seems emotionless and flat, because we are so quick to get to the next step without enjoying or \u2018coding\u2019 positive experiences in long-term emotional memory,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n1. Behavioral display<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
2. Be present<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
3. Capitalize the positive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
4. Mental time travel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not evolved for savoring\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Prefrontal cortex to the rescue<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCoding\u201d the positive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n