Using neuroscience to make life’s good times last longer

You know when something good happens and its gone, over in the blink of an eye? And you say to yourself, ‘That was so much fun I’ll remember every detail forever,’ and yet the memory fades a little bit every time you bring it forward in your mind to reminisce.

Thankfully, science has discovered how you make those those brilliant, fantastic joyous life moments bigger , last longer and stay clearer in your memory.

Here’s how you take a fabulous, amazing life experience and embed it into your consciousness.

You want to enrich the experience and that’s done in five simple steps.

1. Duration. When something good happens, how long do you stay with it? We don’t give these moments our attention for long enough, usually noticing it for less than 15 seconds. Stay with the experience longer, make it last, wring every drop of enjoyment out of it. When we feel the pleasure for longer than 15 seconds we move the experience from our temporary memory to long term memory. So make it last longer.
2. Intensity. Dial up the sensations you feel, and make sure you’re using every one of your senses. What are you looking at? what do you hear? What are you smelling and tasting? And what are you feeling? What sensations are rushing through your body. Feel the rush of it all and luxuriate in every single part of it.
3. Multi Modality. Take the experience out of the purely physical and make it emotionally enriching too. What feelings and emotions are you noticing? Name them, stop and identify everything you are feeling as this will embed the experience even deeper into your consciousness.
4. Personal Relevance. Know why this experience matters to you, what gives it relevance and importance in your life.
5. Absorb. Visualise the experience sinking deep into your body, deep into your mind, deep into your soul. Feel the experience deep in your heart.

Start noticing when good things happen around you, for you, to you. Because they do. And savour every one, they’re what gives life its flavour, its piquancy. And the more good things you notice, the more seem to happen for you. A wonderful spiral of joy, happiness and good times. Enjoy!