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The happiness of inaction through self-reflection

Christopher Nielson

Psychology, Utah Valley University

PSY-2400: Positive Psychology

Prof. Wilson

Aug. 8, 2023
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With respect to the concept of Savoring and this course’s challenge of record keeping, I can say

with full confidence that it has been an enjoyable and learning experience. Savoring is one of those

concepts that gets easily forgotten about in our world or even disregarded, but if it is followed, it pays for

itself in dividends! I must confess that I had difficulty following through on the concept of savoring or

keeping up on whatever habits I had begun to develop towards the end of the course, but even still, the

effects were clear, and I would like to keep those effects if possible. Bottomline is that I discovered a new

sense of calm, respect for things I have been gifted, a new way to appreciate the new experiences of life

that I have been given, and a belief that with enough appreciation, every benefit or treasure that we

enjoy can be enjoyed without overindulgence or greedily grabbing at more than is needed.

To begin, I discovered early on that the quickest and most effective way to focus my attentions

on savoring was by practicing mindfulness. The process of pulling myself away from the present and

focusing on the thought process of what was truly going on and what I was actually feeling was

immensely helpful. I’m usually given to following a routine and only changing that if I felt like I wanted to

and that was usually out of a sense of desires not being met. What I discovered, however, is that desires

are not always the same as needs.

What often actually occurred is that whenever I found myself going to attempt to fulfill some

want, such as snacking or playing a game, I began to develop a habit of stopping myself and examining

my actual situation. What emerged was usually the true need that I was attempting to fill but fulfill it in

the quickest or “most efficient” way possible. A short example of this could be how snacking not only

helps me keep full but also gives a pleasurable feeling of short contentment. Ironic that true

contentment could ever be short.

After scanning my thoughts in such a specific manner, the most effective strategy would usually

be to move through what the textbook describes as a “Daily Vacation” (Carr, 2022). The vacation was
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usually accompanied by a scripture study, which proved to be an excellent way to take a sort of third

person perspective to my life or my current position in the routine and evaluate where I actually wanted

to be. At other times, the vacation was a simple wandering of thoughts while walking around or even

personal conversation rehearsals with myself. Either way, the intention of “[taking time out] … from

everyday activity…” (Carr, eta al. 2022) was achieved and over the weeks that passed, a sense of being

present and outside of myself slowly started to develop. Overall, I began to feel things better, smell

things more often (I usually don’t pick up that many smells at all), colors get clearer, and noises get more

noticeable. It was honestly quite enjoyable, if not for the fact that it stopped. I believe I’ve already

mentioned that I was having a hard time keeping up the habit after awhile, but the point is that while I

would like to keep up the habit of taking time out of my day, it has to be admitted that this is something

quite hard to do.

The act of stopping whatever your doing to go and take a look at your life, while enjoyable, is

also annoying because it has stopped your life’s progress or routine business and when you get back to

it, you feel like you need to stop more often which also gets a bit tiring after awhile of trying to put your

life on hold multiple times in a day. On the other hand, I can’t deny the benefits and the fact that just

following a routine has not always been so nice of a thing either. Indeed, I would even quote President

John F. Kennedy when he said “There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long-

range risks of comfortable inaction.” (Kennedy)

In essence, I must confess the feeling of trying to get done my usual and regular routine is a bit

of a bore on my mind and soul as much as my complaints about getting too many things done in trying to

follow these habits. I can’t say that I will keep following these habits or their patterns for the rest of my

life, but if I could find a more convenient way for me to achieve the same results, then it might just be

worth the plunge.

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References:

Carr, A (2022) Positive Psychology: The science of wellbeing and human strengths. 3rd edition. Vital

Source. https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/reader/books/9781000526851/epubcfi/6/2[%3Bvnd.vst.idref

%3DCover]!/4/2%4052:46. Retrieved 8/11/2023.

John F. Kennedy Quotes. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved August 11, 2023, from

BrainyQuote.com Web site: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/john_f_kennedy_109216