To Enjoy Life More, Embrace Anticipation

To eke out the most happiness from an experience, we must anticipate it, savor it as it unfolds, express happiness, and recall a happy memory, and photographs are a very helpful tool for prompting happy memories.

If the anticipation of travel is more enjoyable than traveling itself, what does that mean for trip planning? To begin with, we should try to solidify travel plans further out. The idea of a last-minute spontaneous trip—especially the proverbial show-up-at-the-airport-and-pick-somewhere idea—has always had a romantic allure. But the less planning t

We sequester joy for our evenings and weekends, scheduling time when we allow ourselves to live, rather than living all the time. Fulfillment should not be considered an indulgence.

Waiting sharpens desire. In fact it helps us recognize where our real desires lie. It separates our passing enthusiasms from our true longings.

If, though, we become fixated on the future, we miss out on the tranquillity and richness of real experience. We achieve equilibrium by finding a ‘good-enough’ compromise. Embracing the present moment does not have to mean a brainless, passive giving of oneself over to the flow. It can be engaged and active.