How to Enjoy Daily Experiences?
Over the past few weeks I’ve slowly been reading through the book ‘Joy on Demand’ by Meng. It’s a slow read not because it’s bad but because each chapter and topic is worth savoring before moving on to the next one. The subtitle describes the book as, ‘The Art of Discovering the Happiness Within.”
Even if the book doesn’t sound like your cup of tea I would actually recommend giving it a try simply because Meng himself is such a wildly interesting person. He’s part engineer and part comedian which means that the book is full of fun anecdotes and cartoons as well as a handful of Asian ‘tiger mom’ jokes.
Although there are many helpful tips and strategies in the book, the one that I wanted to share today is called, ‘The Joy of Pleasant Daily Experiences’ or ‘How to Enjoy Daily Experiences.’ For reference, this is from Chapter 5 which is titled, ‘What, Me Happy?’
Here is how Meng describes it,
‘The practice is simple: when you do something that involves a pleasant experience, take at least one moment to attend fully to the joy that pleasantness invokes. That is all. For example, at lunch, bring full attention to the enjoyment of the first bite. The first bite is when you are most hungry, so it is also the most delicious. There is a thin but very satisfying slice of joy in there- don’t miss it. Attend fully to the joy.’
So, here are 5 examples of How to Enjoy Daily Experiences….
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The first moment when you step into a warm shower
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The smell of a new hardback book
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The first bite of a Chipotle burrito bowl
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Hugging your spouse/friend/family member when you haven’t seen them all day
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The feel and smell of freshly laundered clothing
So, what happens next? Well, as Meng points out in his book, one of the greatest benefits of appreciating these everyday moments of joy is that doing this repeatedly leads to gratefulness. And, we know that science has shown that maintaining a sense of gratitude in our lives is one of the best ways to increase our happiness and overall quality of life.
What do you think? What are some “pleasant daily experiences” that you can enjoy this week?
