Noticing, savouring and fully enjoying the good times in life are important ways to care for ourselves and build our internal strength. The more we perceive goodness, have positive experiences, and allow them to sink in, the more we are building inner resources that can help us better deal with the hard things in life. Absorbing good experiences (states) over the longer term can change our brain for the better.
The H.E.A.L. process
Dr. Rick Hanson studied and developed the H.E.A.L. process to help us rewire the brain for happiness and resilience. He suggests practicing H.E.A.L. 9-10 times per day for 10 seconds each time to create lasting neural change.
H: HAVE a positive experience
Do this by noticing an existing positive experience in yourself or your environment, by calling one to mind from your past, or by generating one (say, though loving-kindness practice)
E: ENRICH that positive experience
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Duration (Make it last longer)
- Intensity (Grow the good feeling, or give ourselves over to it.)
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Multi-modality (Help the idea become an experience by feeling it in the body. Getting out of the head and into the body)
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Novelty (The brain is a novelty detector and thus will be strongly affected by new experiences. See the novel aspects of the good thing if you can. What’s fresh about this good thing today?)
- Personal Relevance (Why would it be good for you to enrich this positive experience? How is cultivating this good strength beneficial to you personally?)
A: ABSORB the positive experience
Can you give yourself over to this good experience? Try finding a visual image in your mind to connect the sensation of goodness sinking in like the warmth of a cup of tea going into your hands, or like cool rainwater sinking in to parched earth.
L: Link
Dr. Hanson suggests that by consciously “linking” positive experiences with old, negative experiences we can crowd out and reduce the negative emotional charge. To learn more about “Linking” you can check out this podcast dedicated to the topic by Rick Hanson.
