Savoring the Good Life

 

This semester I am taking a positive psychology class. It is a relatively new field of psychology that has only been an official field of study since 1998. Up until recently most psychologists took a more grim outlook on the human species and focused much of their attention more on what goes wrong than celebrating and enhancing what goes right. It has been really interesting to see that most of what it teaches are things that I have been taught since I was little. In the primer textbook, written by Christopher Peterson, it suggests that good character and strong values are what will bring us the most lasting happiness. Although these are ideas that are common to some, the field of study takes it to the next level with experimentation and documentation.

This past week we have been talking about learning to savor the good things in life. The following is a part of the assignment that we did in connection with the idea of savoring:

"I love taking pictures of my daughters! I want to keep each smile forever. I relish in each hug they give, and every made-up song they sing. I enjoy getting them dressed in the morning and doing their hair and even when they are hanging around in their footsie pajamas with crazy-crazy hair, I love to adore them.

"Throughout each day I make mental notes of each of the silly, clever or cute things that each of my daughters does and anticipate sharing these moments with my husband. I am so glad to be blessed to stay home with them during the day.

"Yesterday we took our girls for a walk out on the tundra and I just loved to watch Chalyse pick up the old wild flowers. She would hold it up and say “Look a flower,” then she would pick off each piece of fluff and watch as it floated away in the wind. Ellora and I pulled some moss off the ground. I let her feel how soft it was and she excitedly squealed and held it up to show Dad."


I have to add that yesterday we had the opportinity to go out and pick blueberries. They are not quite the same as the blueberries we have down in the states but, similar. They are just a little blacker, smaller and a little more bitter. One of the ladies that works at the school told us where to find some, so we took a short walk down 7 Mile Road, about half a mile, and there they were just off to the right of the road. Tons of them growing very close to the ground. It had been a beautiful, sunny and warm day but just as we were heading out of the village a cold fog set in. The girls were getting cold and kept stepping on the berries so we didn't stay long but I hope to go out again before they are all gone. We were going to maybe go out today but it was very windy and cold, so maybe we will try sometime next week.


Here are some pictures of our walk on Thursday and our berry picking yesterday.