courage. compassion. connection.
I first learned this simple practice of savoring the pleasant from Dr. Rick Hanson. He writes and teaches about the cross section between neurobiology, mindfulness meditation, and psychology.
Many psychologists, including Dr. Hanson, suggest that humans have a negativity bias. This is evolutionary and was intended to support our survival. However, it does not always serve us now. Thus, we have to retrain our brains to tilt toward the positive. Because of brain plasticity, we now know that we can grow new neural circuits in the brain, thus hardwiring happiness. One way is to pause and soak in a positive experience when it happens, or even recollect the positive experience at another time. Let’s give it try.