Life is a series of moments, each stitched together with the senses that we learned to feel in that split second of infinite happiness. Being in the moment is the basis of happiness, but true, memory bound moments are savoured with every sense with undivided attention and focus. We often remember many fond childhood memories with every sense. We can recall the smell of the classroom on the first day of school. We can recall the sounds of our very first Christmases. We can still remember the first sight of our first crush. Our memories from the touch of our first kiss are engrained in our minds. Nothing can ever get over the first time we touched the keys of our first car.

When we are children, we have no other blockages in our minds to keep us from learning new experiences in our lives. Our memories are engrained with every savoured moment as we are programmed from the start to learn everything with every sense. Babies often try to taste everything they see! Little boys are entranced with the smell of their farts. The curiosity of many kids has them observing things that us adults could never imagine. We often are amazed at how accurately children can recall memory, it isn’t because they have super-power brains, it is because they spend their moments taking it all in, all five senses. They have to, it is how they learn at such a rapid pace.

Somewhere along the path of life, we stop savouring our moments and recalling them become even more of a chore.

As memories keep rolling into our brains, we become accustomed to assuming that new moments will always be there awaiting our arrival. We take for granted that our lives will always give us another moment so we get lazy and forget to stop and really deeply enjoy it. Savouring a moment means that you sit back and allow it all to sink in, using all of your senses, you create a mental imprint that will last the test of old age. Savour the smell of a day at the ballpark watching a baseball game with your children. Savour the sounds of the birds chirping as you awake from a night of camping. Savour the sight of the sunset falling as you sit on the beach. Savour the taste of a new food you are trying from a new restaurant. Savour the touch of moss on a stump of an old tree as you walk through the forest.

Deeply smell the next rose you come across, get your nose deep in there, give it a good and long sniff. Observe the colour and gently feel the pedal. The next time you are eating at a restaurant, regardless of quality, smell the food before you eat it, taste every bite and observe every ingredient. Engrain every sense of every moment into the neuron that will store this memory in your brain.  Take the time in your moment right now to love everything about it. Our lives are not one dimensional so neither should your memory of it be.

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This blog post is part of a series of 26 that focuses on finding your inner happiness. Please check out the rest of the series here: The ABC’s of a Happy Life