Perhaps it's because people need cheering up in January that Bachelor's cup-a-soup company decided to do a survey of three thousand people on what they felt to be the greatest pleasures in life. Or maybe it was because they were confident that hot soup would feature somewhere....
Anyway, here are the top ten:
1. A good night's sleep
2. Finding a forgotten tenner in your pocket
3. Cuddling up with someone you love
4. Crying with laughter
5. Having a lie-in
6. Sleeping in newly laundered bedding
7. Getting a bargain
8. Making someone smile
9. Catching up with an old friend
10 Laughing at things that have happened in the past
Others in the top 50 included:
Someone saying you look nice
Curling up on the sofa with a good book and, yes, a hot drink or soup
Waking up thinking it's a work day and then realising it's the weekend
A random person smiling at you in the street
Looking through old photo albums
First snow fall of the year
Singing your heart out to your favourite song in the car
Having lunch with friends
A pampering session at home
Your queue moving fastest in the supermarket
When I read about this survey in one of the Sunday papers, I involuntarily found myself imagining that delicious feeling of having a bath and then getting into bed between clean sheets. Then I thought about cuddling up to someone I love, putting my arms around them and holding them tight. Then I remembered a chat I'd recently had with an old friend from university and how we'd laughed about the beer race we did in fresher's week. And I suddenly became aware of how very cheerful I was feeling! So I thought you might like to feel cheerful too.....
Try this:
1. Think of five things that you really enjoy.
2. Take one of these five and imagine having that
experience by remembering the last time you
had it.
3. Allow time to really enjoy it.
4. Now take another one and do the same, and
another.
5. Go back to the mood scale at the beginning and
again assess how you're feeling.
Any changes?
6. Think about the area of your life that's causing
you problems at the moment - how does it look
now?
For the next week, why not chase the winter blues by scheduling a few real experiences of life's little pleasures? And how about providing some pleasure for somebody else? Research shows that in a situation where one person is giving to another, the person who derives most pleasure is the giver. Why not smile at a random person in the street, give up your seat on the train, or pay someone a compliment, and see how good it feels?
Enjoy!
