Savoring - When Suffering is Not Present

Asma Sherif Moneer

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Often people will wait to come to coaching only when their suffering has increased, like if they’re going through a breakup or another stressful life event. But really, the path of spiritual practice and growth is for all the times in our lives. Similarly, we tend to be more aware/mindful of the suffering that’s in our lives than the good times. This makes sense because of our negativity bias - keeping on alert for things going wrong is wired into our evolution. So it’s easier to be mindful when we sense anger or anxiety or frustration since they scream for our attention. But one thing we tend NOT to do is notice - and savor - when our suffering is absent. In 2007, researchers Bryant and Veroff defined savoring as “attending, appreciating, and enhancing positive experiences that occur in one’s life.” It’s a bit different than pleasure because it’s about being aware of the experience of pleasure. So this means that savoring requires mindfulness, especially of emotions. It requires us to notice when suffering is NOT there and when the experience of delight IS there. And savoring isn’t just about the present. We can savor the past or the future, too. You can think of savoring the past as reminiscing. Like remembering a hilarious moment with friends or feeling really proud of a major accomplishment or remembering that feeling of getting to the end of a hard hike and enjoying the view. In fact, savoring the past can evoke the same positive emotions linked to the actual experience and help us to be more resilient during stressful events. When we savor the future, we’re anticipating, which actually gives us a lot of pleasure. Sometimes more than that actual thing we’re anticipating. ;) While mindfulness IS necessary for savoring, it is a broader process of being aware of all aspects of our experience in

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