Savoring and Well-being

Why Does Savoring Matter?

An often overlooked key element of well-being is that the journey toward greater happiness and savoring is not a chase. Think about the phrase from the U.S. Declaration of Independence: “the pursuit of Happiness.” Do you ever feel like you’re pursuing happiness—as if it’s always just out of reach? Achieving happiness is better approached as a mental and physical slowing down that helps a person find him/herself in a state of deep appreciative reflection. It does little good to walk mindlessly past a garden of roses. Savoring requires a kind of mindful awareness (mentally or physically) of the experience while it is occurring to purposely take notice of the beauty that surrounds the event (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). Slowing down helps to focus our attention on small details that would have otherwise gone unnoticed, such as the way the sun hits the rose petals or the slight, intricate placement of the buds. Perhaps the most important aspect of cultivating savoring is developing the ability to slowly and more meaningfully experience the value inherent in everything around us. 

Carl Honore, journalist and author, emphasizes the value of of slowing down (see his TED Talk entitled “In Praise of Slowness” in the Resources section; Honore, 2005). Our society values and emphasizes speed and efficiency, but along the way, we have forgotten that the most important things in life take time. Hurrying through life to “get the most done” takes away from the true beauty that is found in watching a sunrise, spending time with loved ones, or listening to the sound of rainfall. The good things in life are to be enjoyed, not merely lived through, which requires slowing down. This race through life not only takes away from appreciating the joy of daily life, but it also damages “our health, our diet, our work, our relationships, the environment and our community” (Honore, 2005). When we fail to slow down, we become reckless and oblivious to the good around us. Thus, in an effort to quickly achieve happiness, we are actually doing a disservice to ourselves by speeding through many life events that have the potential to bring happiness.

Savoring is more than noticing the characteristics of objects that spark appreciation. It’s about cultivating the characteristic of savoring within ourselves to increase the ability to see the beauty around. Beyond the personal happiness that comes from this appreciation, such individuals are more likely to be altruistic, seek self-improvement, and serve as devoted community members among other prosocial benefits (Haidt & Keltner, 2001). Consequently, cultivating the skill of savoring also adds to the good in the world around us. 
 

A Closer Look at Savoring

Savoring has three main functions: prolonging, intensifying, and shifting gears (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). Savoring works by regulating our positive experiences to intensify and prolong the associated positive feelings (Quoidbach et al., 2010). It is also the ability to savor in the absence of such feelings (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). Savoring empowers us to take charge of our own happiness, as it helps bring out positive feelings even in the absence of positive events.  
 
Savoring overlaps with mindfulness and flow, but we can make a few important distinctions. Mindfulness includes awareness of experience without preference to certain feelings over others (Conn, 2011). Mindfulness includes awareness of enjoyable events, but savoring emphasizes an appreciative awareness of positive experiences with the explicit purpose of prolonging and amplifying them (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). Mindfulness allows for both negative and positive experiences to bring up emotion and it focuses on the acceptance of the feelings associated with the experiences, with little control from the individual in terms of which stimuli are experienced (Germer, 2009). Savoring focuses on the positive events or aspects of an event. 

Flow, traditionally defined, typically involves a loss of self in the experience (Lyubomirsky, 2008). You might lose track of time and space while in flow (Bryant & Veroff, 2007). Flow is mainly differentiated from savoring by the level of immersion. For example, flow could be being lost in the experience of enjoying nature. There is little awareness because you have become absorbed in the experience. In a sense, flow happens to you, while savoring happens because you allow it to. To have a flow experience, we must step fully into the experience as a wholly engaged participant. Savoring requires a conscious and deliberate awareness of the experience. Because savoring requires more awareness, we have to step away from the situation in order to recognize how all the details come together (Bryant & Veroff, 2007).

Savoring in the Midst of Tragedy

Savoring promotes meaning. Positive elements of even tragic events can be savored to find deeper meaning from the negative moments (Bryant & Smith, 2015). Savoring is all about appreciating the positive, but the idea is that even tragic events may have some good worthy of savoring. Small, positive moments embedded within negative events could be savored to bring reassurance in hard times. Having the ability to savor even when misfortune strikes is an important trait to develop. Pain is an inevitable part of life, but savoring helps to cultivate the skills needed to cope with life’s many difficulties. Savoring is not about noticing and appreciating only the overwhelmingly positive situations, but often it is about the ability to find joy in the small and mundane or even an unfortunate event. For example, when emerging adults were prompted to participate in an online intervention that promoted bi-weekly savoring activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, this led to improvements in life satisfaction and positive emotions (Villani et al., 2023). In a personal tragedy—such as a serious illness in the family—there may still be moments of closeness or tenderness worth savoring. Even in sorrow, savoring helps us recognize and hold onto the good. 

Psychological Health Benefits of Savoring
 
Savoring is associated with numerous psychological benefits. For example, Stephens et al. (2024) led a longitudinal study on savoring in older adults, where it was found that savoring was associated with higher levels of well-being over time compared to the older adults who did not practice savoring. Positive emotions have been shown to be associated with greater resilience against stress (Ong et al., 2006). In one study, individuals who reported higher levels of resilience were less likely to report having depressed mood (Smith & Hollinger-Smith, 2015). However, those who reported a higher level of savoring were also less likely to be depressed. From these findings, we learn that savoring provides protection against depression, especially for those whose resilience level was lower from the start. But the benefits extend beyond protection against depression--savoring also led to greater life satisfaction regardless of the level of resilience because the individuals were better able to respond to stressful life events when they were savoring. In short, savoring seems to both buffer the effects of negative experiences and amplify the impact of positive ones. 

Germer (2009) suggested that the three types of savoring offer unique benefits. Savoring the present protects against depression, stress, guilt, and shame. Future-based savoring can enhance optimism and emotional intensity by fostering a hopeful outlook. Lastly, savoring past events buffers against stress. The ability to savor past positive events can bring comfort in the present.

Jose et al. (2012) conducted a study looking at the relationship among positive life events, savoring, and happiness. At the start of the study, participants completed questionnaires on savoring, life events, and perceived happiness. Then they participated in a 30-day diary exercise in which they were asked to record their mood every day. At the end of 30 days, all participants were given the same set of questionnaires at the start of the study. The results indicated that momentary positive events produced momentary happiness. Momentary savoring was also linked to momentary happiness. These findings indicate that happiness, savoring, and positive events change together. Further analysis indicated that momentary savoring influences the relationship between momentary positive events and momentary happiness. In other words, when positive life events were less common, greater savoring led to increased happiness. We are not always able to control whether we’ll have a good day or how many good things will happen in a day, but that does not mean that happiness is out of reach for those who do not experience as many momentary positive events.