New life hack: The joy snack

Today on “Post Reports,” we dive into research on happiness and talk about finding joy in mundane experiences to cultivate a more meaningful life.

Read more:

Here’s an antidote to an ever-stressful, busy and uncertain world: Try finding and savoring little bites of joy throughout your day. Our Brain Matters columnist, neuroscientist Richard Sima, calls them “joy” snacks.

By mindfully tuning in to the pleasant, nice and sometimes routine experiences of every day, we can transform an otherwise mundane moment into something more meaningful and even joyful.

Lunch with a co-worker. Walking the dog. Texting with a friend. Watching a favorite show. Eating a favorite meal. Calling your mom. Just hanging out.

New research shows that finding and savoring these nuggets of joy can be a way of consistently cultivating a good, meaningful life.

“It’s not these big things that we sort of create in our heads, but these smaller day-to-day experiences that bring us meaning,” said Joshua Hicks, a psychologist at Texas A&M University’s Existential Psychology Collaboratory.

To learn more about joy snacking, check out Richard’s column or this video about three ways to snack on joy.