Savouring
The Illustrate Cafe and Brandon Hill - Yasmin D'Monte
What is savouring?
"To enjoy food or an experience slowly, in order to enjoy it as much as possible" - Cambridge Dictionary
To savour something you must be truly present in the moment, it is a conscious activity where you focus on truly appreciating your experiences as they happen.
Is there any research proving savouring aids in long term happiness?
“Savoring can help us counteract the natural human tendency to focus more of our attention on negative things in our lives than on positive things,” Fred Bryant, Ph.D,Joseph Veroff, Ph.D, Savoring: A New Model of Positive Experience
Bryant and Veroff found ten strategies to savour experiences:
Sharing with others, memory building, self-congratulation, sensoryperceptual sharpening, comparing, absorption, behavioral expression, temporal awareness, counting blessings, and kill-joy thinking
How can you put savouring into practice?
As described above there are ten popular methods of savouring, but personally I enjoy taking a book out with me and writing what I appreciate, as I have a hard time grounding myself so actively thinking of what is keeping me in the moment and writing it to remember is very effective.
Also be conscious of the smaller things in life, enjoy the way rain falls or the crunching of leaves under your feet, try to enjoy every moment as they pass, it can be very overwhelming sometimes to live only looking to the future and not in the current moment, so reminding yourself to appreciate smaller things is important.
To explore this happiness hack I went to the Illustrate Cafe and to Brandon Hill.
The Illustrate Cafe sits hidden away on Park Street, at first glance the place seems like a clothing shop, with no sign of there being a cafe inside, but when you head inside, walking past clothes and canvas’ you see the set up in the back of the place. There is a large selection of hot and cold drinks available to customers along with the option of various toasties to eat.
The place was the perfect balance of private and lively, it’s good for a chat with friends or a study date with its secluded hipster feel and cosy atmosphere. To savour my time I brought a journal with me and documented how the place made me feel, and I enjoyed a Hot chocolate and read some of my book to utilise my time.
Brandon hill is a park tucked away between Jacob Wells Road and Park Street, It has a brilliant view of Bristol from the top of the hill but Brandon hill is a hill.
The walk up to the lookout is scenic with large stretches of green space, the higher you go the more you can see over the city. It's never too busy so you're given space to keep to your thoughts. It's good for a walk or run and relaxing for the mind as well, this place doesn't just cover "savouring" it could fit under exercise, gratitude, mindfulness and even social connection. To savour my time here I sat atop the hill enjoying the view and did some small meditative exercises, deep breathing and focusing on the things around me, really trying to stay in the moment.