The power of Savoring Comments Off on The power of Savoring

“Can you recall a time you enjoyed something to the fullest? Seriously—a time you wholeheartedly relished an experience, delighting in it as deeply and as long as you could? In essence, I’m asking about enjoying on purpose.” (LaFreniere, 2023)

What is ‘savoring’?

• Savoring is when you embrace and deliberately engage with joy.
• It is purposeful – you make an intentional, conscious choice to enjoy the moment.
• You slow down and actively make it last.

Savoring: key concepts

In essence, savoring involves three processes: noticing, intensifying, and prolonging.

1. Notice positive emotions. Consciously feel them when they arise, turn your mind to them on purpose. (Name or describe it: “I’m feeling happy” … “This is fun!”)
2. Intensify the strength of your positive emotions. (“Grow the glow”: attempt to increase the emotion in whatever way works for you)
3. Prolong positive emotions for as long as you can. (Hold on to your feelings as long as you can)

Proven Benefits of Savoring (from published clinical studies)

In studies (clinical trials and systematic reviews) savoring has been shown to:

• reduce clinical levels of worry, anxiety, and depression symptoms
• lessen attentional bias to negative information
• build resilience to and recovery from adversity
• increase the frequency and intensity of positive emotions
• magnify the beneficial effects of positive events on mood and thoughts

In short, if we get better at feeling our good feelings, we can feel better

Savoring improves relationships too!

• Savoring your partner’s positive moments improves relationship satisfaction and stability.
• Couples who mindfully share and amplify good moments report greater intimacy, more shared positive emotion, and better conflict recovery.
• Sharing nostalgic memories (a form of savoring the past) increases feelings of social connectedness and perceived relationship closeness.
• People who habitually savor positive events show greater resilience and report more supportive social interactions during times of stress.

It’s not just about “being present” for your own joy; when shared, savoring actively builds trust, closeness, and resilience between people.

Savoring is not…

• a cure for everything – it’s just one tool in our toolbox
• “positive thinking” – it’s not “finding the silver lining” in everything nor keeping our thoughts “on the sunny side”
• suppressing pain or dismissing problems – savoring is in addition to managing negative thoughts, emotions, and situations

 

“Savoring is juicing all the goodness life gives us, in whatever form or measure it may come” (LaFreniere, 2023)

How to do savoring

Here are some tips to help with noticing, intensifying and prolonging:

• To help with noticing, try to become aware of those moments when you’re feeling good, take a step back, and observe. Go as far as to label it: “This is great!”
• Good ways to intensify the experience include slowing down, paying attention to why it feels so good, talking about it with others, really trying to “bask in the feeling”
• To prolong the moment, take photos, share on social media, keep a journal or simply find ways to do more of the same or similar things

Evidence from Research

Savoring and Relationship Satisfaction

• Gable et al. (2004, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology)
  Found that how people respond to a partner’s good news predicts relationship well-being more than how they respond to bad news. Active–constructive responding (a savoring skill) is strongly linked to relationship satisfaction and stability.

Savoring Shared Experiences

• Bryant & Veroff (2007, Savoring: A New Model of Positive Experience)
  Documented that couples who mindfully share and amplify good moments report greater intimacy, more shared positive emotion, and better conflict recovery.

Positive Emotion Broadening & Bonding

• Fredrickson’s Broaden-and-Build Theory (Fredrickson, 2001, American Psychologist)
  Positive emotions — often enhanced through savoring — broaden thought–action repertoires, leading to more openness, creativity, and resource-building in relationships.

Buffering Against Stress

• Ong et al. (2010, Emotion)
  People who habitually savor positive events show greater resilience and report more supportive social interactions during times of stress.

Reminiscence and Bonding

• Alea & Bluck (2007, Memory)
  Sharing nostalgic memories (a form of savoring the past) increases feelings of social connectedness and perceived relationship closeness.

Other studies have demonstrated the following:

Reduced clinical levels of worry, anxiety, and depression symptoms (Bolier et al., 2013; Craske et al., 2019; Doorley & Kashdan, 2021; Garland et al., 2010; Gloria & Steinhardt, 2016; LaFreniere & Newman, 2023a, 2023b; Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009)

Lower levels of attentional bias to negative information (Smith et al., 2006)

Improved resilience to and recovery from adversity (Catalino et al., 2014; Fredrickson et al., 2000).

Increased frequency and intensity of positive emotions (Kiken et al., 2017; LaFreniere & Newman, 2023b; Quoidbach et al., 2010; Rosen & LaFreniere, 2023; Smith & Bryant, 2017; Wilson & MacNamara, 2021)

Magnification of the beneficial effects of positive events on mood and cognition (Corman et al., 2020; Jose et al., 2012; Wilson & MacNamara, 2021).

“In short, if we get better at feeling our good feelings, we can feel good.” (LaFreniere, 2023)