Savoring Everyday Moments

I love mornings. Morning is my favorite time of day. I rise before the sun and enjoy my coffee in the dark . . . tasting the rich, warm liquid and savoring the stillness in our home, the peaceful hush, the chance to think without distractions.

Though savoring is usually associated with eating something delicious, like decadent chocolate, it can apply to just about anything.

At some point in your life you’ve certainly savored chocolate—you’ve taken a piece of the chocolate into your mouth and, without chewing or swallowing, simply let it melt slowly as you savored the richness of it’s flavor and texture. At that precise moment, you fully appreciated just how delicious that piece of chocolate was. This is savoring.

How does it apply to everyday moments? Let’s say you’re mowing the lawn. When you savor a moment, you focus on the task at hand. In this case, you concentrate on mowing and think about nothing else. You feel the mower pushing forward. You take in the scent of the newly mowed grass. You follow the neatly clipped rows and notice how nice the lawn looks against the flower beds. You bask in the moment. Soak in its pleasure. Savor it.

Savoring a moment can happen in the blink of an eye or provide satisfaction that follows you throughout your day. Either way, it puts a positive spin on even the most mundane or dreaded tasks and encourages you to slow down and give each task space and your full attention. The closer attention you pay, the more you get out of it. If you feel an urge to rush on to something else—an other, more-enjoyable activity—you let it go. All that matters is what you are doing in that precise moment.

Learning to savor changes everything. It teaches you to be grateful and appreciative. You stop procrastinating. You finish projects. You take better care of yourself. You eat less because it’s hard to overeat when you slow down and take your time. Focusing on the flavor of your food, the taste and texture of every bite, you become choosy about what you’re eating. It’s the old domino effect—when you learn to savor, you find yourself wanting to eat better and do more things worth savoring.

We live in a day and age where you can do almost anything you want at any given moment. It’s not always easy to stop and concentrate on what you’re doing and savor the moment. More times than not you’re multi-tasking, trying to cram all the things you need/want to do into every single minute. You’re in the supermarket . . . on the phone. You’re having dinner . . . watching television. You’re driving in the car . . . rushing to work. You’re writing a blog post . . . wondering if you should be exercising instead.

When you savor, this kind of anxiety melts away. You fully engage yourself in the activity with no thought to anything else. You are immersed in it, fully appreciating what you’re doing because nothing could be more delicious than savoring the moment—the chocolate, the freshly-mowed lawn, a clean house, the bills paid, sunshine in the garden, the tender beef tenderloin, the soft comfort of your favorite chair, and so much more. It’s a wonderful way to live.

Learning to savor takes practice. Eating a piece of chocolate every day is a good, easy, delicious way to start—but, o, the calories! Drinking tea, too, is a great way to learn how to savor Because tea is such a light beverage, you have to actually focus on what you’re drinking to get the most out of it. For me, nursing a cup of café avec crème vanila français in the early morning hours is one of the things I savor—it gets me out of bed and starts my day on a positive note.

Wherever you are, stop, and savor the moment. Think about what you are doing and fully appreciate the gift you have been given. Practice several times a day. Be mindful of the everyday moments. Savor them. The more you practice, the better you’ll get.