Monday, April 26, 2010

Philosophy - Savoring

How often do you stop and ask yourself "what is my state of being?" If you did, would you find yourself to be content? hurried? overwhelmed? The simple act of asking such a question of ourselves teaches us a great deal about the landscape of our lives, and it also gives us a powerful tool to change what we may not like.

In her book Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life, Winifred Gallagher explores the phenomenon of savoring. Savoring is "the mindful, intentional focus on positive feelings." Whether you're savoring the first bite of dinner or a rare moment of silence, the act of focusing on the event as a positive sensory experience will make the situation all the more enjoyable, and will imprint upon your mind a sense of satisfaction and calm. To enhance the experience, be mindful of the specific details of what you're savoring. If you're eating ice cream, think about the flavor and all the hard work that went into making it. If you're enjoying the sunshine feel its warmth and contemplate the long journey that light took to land on your cheeks.

Savoring can tell us a lot about our ability to channel positive thinking, but it also has powerful implications about our ability to facilitate our own healing. Phototherapy has been shown to be very effective in the treatment of psoriasis, a skin condition caused by cell proliferation and inflammation, however the process is uncomfortable and has a high dropout rate. The treatment consists of a patient standing naked in a large coffin-sized tanning booth while wearing only goggles and a pillowcase on his or her head. To explore the role of mindfulness in treatment, half of a group of psoriasis patients listened to an audio tape that asked them to focus on the phototherapy experience without judging it as good or bad: Could they feel the warmth on their skin? Could they hear the blowers? The other half of psoriasis patients endured the treatment without any instructions to be mindful. The results were incredible. Patients who listened to the mindful audiotape saw their psoriasis clear four times faster than patients who did not savor the UV treatment. These attentional effects have the potential to penetrate all the way down to inflammatory mediators and gene expression.

Getting ourselves into the habit of savoring can not only change our temporary state of mind, but can also challenge us to reshape the way we see the world, and the implications of such a major shift in perspective are endless.

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