Savor Your Life
Savor Your Life
Savor is one of my favorite words. To savor something is to deeply enjoy it by relishing the nuances of the experience.
Being a foodie, the word brings to mind something so good that it makes me close my eyes and pause in appreciation, letting the taste and feel linger. You can savor a victory, a scene, a moment. The word implies a welcome pause that allows for conscious being in the moment. Savoring involves time. You cannot rush it.
We are so hurried these days. We have immediate entertainment, copious choices, and we hurry through it all. We swipe up at a rapid pace, never giving anything much attention. We hurry through take-out, and delivery.. We have instant connections. We live in isolation. We only notice beauty to take a picture to post later. We go, go, go with our heads down, our attention and fingers attached to a phone. Whatever the opposite of savor is, that is what we are doing.
How does one savor life?
S: senses- Sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch
A: appreciation
V: vitalize
O: Openness
R: Rest
What is it you are sensing? What do you see? Is there great lighting? Is the sun rising? Setting? What do you hear? Are there birds singing? Do you hear dishes clinking, and waiters talking? Do you hear traffic? Laughter? Singing? Shouting? Silence? What do you taste? Sweet, salty, bitter, sour? What do you smell? Is it a good smell? Flowery? Food, or baking wafting through the air? What can you feel? What are you touching? What is touching you? What texture? Is it wet, cold, hot, slippery, dry, rough, smooth? Is there a breeze touching your skin?
Appreciation takes noticing. Being aware of what is around you and how you are feeling. It is being grateful for an experience while you are experiencing it.
Vitalization. How does what you are sensing and appreciating make you feel alive?
Be open to new experiences. Be open to acknowledging the feelings the experience is making you feel.
Relax. Rest in the moment. It is ok, there is another moment right in front of this one. Take a breath and look around.
Savoring doesn’t require you to be in some fantastic exotic place. It doesn’t require you to be on vacation away from your mundane day to day. It requires you to notice the moment you are in. You can savor getting up before everyone else. You can savor that warm cup of coffee in your hands while you look out at the sun rising. You can savor sitting in traffic listening to a favorite song while you notice individual rain drops on your windshield.
Let me know what you are savoring today. Enjoy!