I came across a post by Dan Ariely recently and fell in love with his message on ‘Wine as a metaphor for life’ 🍷. Dan Ariely is a professor in behaviour economics whom I admire greatly. I fell in love with his work ever since I completed his course on “A Beginner’s Guide to Irrational Behavior” via Coursera years back. Shame it’s no longer available. But I’ve been since following some of his work. I highly recommend his talks which are always engaging, like this one.
The golden idea from his metaphor:
“Our enjoyment for consumption is a function of how much we slow down and focus on it.“ — Dan Ariely
Like how we created a ritual around enjoying wine. We pair specialised glasses to aerate the velvet liquid, swirl it, observe its colour, smell, and taste which make up the overall experience of our wine consumption. All these elements help us to focus our attention. Attention is key. This building of a ritual, giving names to each element, prolongs the duration of the consumption. By s l o w i n g. . d o w n . . and extending the process, we’re effectively in turn, enhancing our experience and enjoyment.
And Dan argues it can be applied to all sorts of things beyond wine. Like enjoying a piece of chocolate, you might just chew it and gulp it down for a quick satisfaction sugar hit, OR you can let that piece of decadent dark chocolate slowly melt in your mouth with your eyes closed. While you get a certain level of enjoyment, the quality is different. I know I’d always choose to extend that feeling of pleasure if I could.
On reflection, one thing I have been struggling to slow down has been around eating. I love eating, and it’s tempting for me to go to my default mode of wolfing down food. The speed at which I eat would correlate to how tasty the food is. I tend to eat much slower when it comes to foods I’m less enthusiastic about. I know I should be really trying to enjoy the food, savour the flavours, and the fact I still haven’t been able to do this successfully in a consistent manner shows how powerful our default habits can be.
Nowadays I’ve been trying to employ this slowing down technique whenever I catch myself trying to ‘speed up time’, such as when doing routine work e.g cleaning, brushing teeth, or taking a shower. I found what helps is to start with a deep breath in and out to reset my mental state and then bringing my full attention to that moment and trying to find joy in the process. Maybe hum a tune, speak thoughts aloud, be attentive to how my body is reacting and feeling, etc. I caught myself the other day doing a musical, singing my thoughts aloud. Thank goodness I was alone at home. I have never done that before, and it felt weird. But also amusing. I think I enjoyed it. When I’m not rushing, I feel calm and at peace. And gosh I need more of those in my life!
So, pro tip to fill your life with more pleasurable moments:
“Whatever we [do], it’s our responsibility to slow down, focus and try to enjoy it the most we can.” — Dan Ariely
Have a great weekend!
