If you’ve been following me a bit, you know by now that I’m a firm believer in practicing gratitude. I don’t do it because I read it in some book or some cool SoulCycle instructor told me I should.
I believe in its power because I’ve tried it and seen the impact it has had on my own life.
This week I want to share with you some research coming from the field of psychology focused on memories and a way to boost your pursuit of happiness. (By the way, did you catch Friday’s GIP video on this?)
According to Rick Hanson, to keep memories longer you should focus on:
- Duration: take an extra moment to cherish it
- Intensity: feel it through your body in the present moment
- Multi-modality: write about it, share it, add to the reflection of the experience somehow
I recently tried a mini-experiment because I’m ABE (always be experimenting) in which:
- During the day, I actively sought out and extended moments of happiness
- During those moments, I focused on feeling a wonderful sensation through my body
- Before going to bed, I wrote down just three things I was grateful for that happened that day
I then compared my state of mind to the prior week.
Granted there is no objective metric for “how you feel” but subjectively, bringing my awareness to, extending the moment of, increasing the feeling throughout, and reflecting/writing down/reliving these moments increased my overall happiness.
I believe that I essentially demanded of myself to find, experience, and hold on to moments of happiness. The results followed suit. Needless to say, I am ‘happy’ with my results.
Perhaps it might be a way for you too to find greater happiness.
People grow according to the demands they make on themselves. If they demand little of themselves, they will remain stunted. If they demand a good deal of themselves, they will grow to a giant stature, without anymore effort than is expended by the non-achievers. -Peter Drucker