The ObservatoryHold on to the good
An exercise in catching a good moment before it slips past. Not afterwards, but while you wait for it or while you are in it
How it works
- What you have to look forward toList
- Rate the anticipationRate
- In the middle of itChoose
Enjoyment doesn't have to wait for something to have already happened. Part of the savoring research is about prolonging joy before it arrives, by deliberately looking forward to it.
Exercise in 3 steps, about 9 minutes. Doing it is part of Premium, which you try free for 7 days with no card. With Premium your answers are saved so you can pick up where you left off and look back at what you wrote.
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Why does it work?
Deliberately prolonging positive experiences, before, during and after they happen, is called savoring and is associated with higher wellbeing in studies. Source: Bryant & Veroff, Savoring (2007). Anticipatory and present-focused savoring is less studied than the memory-based variant, but builds on the same basic mechanism.
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Read more
One minute: count today's kindnesses
Count the small kindnesses you have done yourself today. They are easy to miss.
Exercise10 minJoy list
List twenty things that bring you joy, keep the five simplest, and put one of them in your calendar already this week.
Exercise11 minThe joy schedule
Don't wait for the urge. Joy usually comes after you start, not before. So you schedule it.