Savoring
Slow down to notice the good thing so it actually counts.
- Difficulty
- Starter
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 85%
Savoring is the act of taking time to notice good experiences so you actually extract their pleasure, counteracting hedonic adaptation and mindless consumption. Santos illustrates it with a fancy latte she 'slammed back' while reading email — the pleasure was there but she wasn't present for it. Savoring means attending to sensory detail and even describing the experience to yourself. It applies to purchases, weather, breaks, and especially relationships, where re-noticing what you appreciate about a partner restores enjoyment that adaptation has dulled.
Origin
Santos teaches savoring as a core happiness practice drawn from positive psychology, using her own habit of rushing through pleasant moments (like drinking a latte while doing email) as the cautionary example.
Core principles
- 01Savoring is the deliberate act of taking time to notice good experiences.
- 02It fights hedonic adaptation and the wasted pleasure of doing good things on autopilot.
- 03Describing an experience to yourself or someone else deepens the enjoyment.
- 04It works on purchases, food, weather, and relationships alike.
How to run it
- 1
Catch the autopilot moment
Notice when you're consuming something good — food, a break, a nice view — while distracted or multitasking.
Watch out Slugging back a treat while reading email wastes the pleasure entirely.
- 2
Attend to the sensory detail
Deliberately focus on how the thing tastes, feels, smells, or looks — the warmth, the creaminess, the texture.
- 3
Describe it
Ask how you'd describe the experience to someone else; articulating it stretches and deepens the enjoyment.
- 4
Apply it to relationships
Re-notice the small good things about people you've adapted to — a partner's smile, the way they look in a shirt.
Pro tip Pair savoring with expressed gratitude for a compounding effect on relationship satisfaction.
In the wild
Santos bought a fancy cinnamon latte and 'slammed it back' while reading emails, never present enough to enjoy it. Savoring would have meant pausing to notice the warmth and creaminess.
→ The pleasure was purchased but lost to inattention — savoring recovers it.
Common mistakes
Multitasking through good moments
Hustle culture pushes us to do many things at once, so we bank the productivity but leave the pleasure uncollected.
Is it for you?
Best for
Busy, hustle-culture people who consume good experiences on autopilot.
Not ideal for
Situations that genuinely demand full task-focus with no slack.
From the transcript
“Savoring is the act of fighting back at that... it's really the act of taking time to notice so that you can enjoy the good…”
From the episode
Dr. Laurie Santos: How to Break Free from the Mental Traps Stealing Your Happiness
Dr. Laurie Santos