It is one thing to have an Enchanted Moment. (I fully discuss Enchanted Moments in my book, THE ENCHANTED SELF, A Positive Therapy. We all need to experience them as often as possible. An enchanted moment can be as simple as sitting on your porch, feeling content, watching the leaves rustle in the trees and maybe saying a pleasant ‘hello’ to a neighbor. Or an Enchanted Moment can be BIG like being with your baby when she takes her first steps, right into your arms or being called up onto the stage for an award you weren’t expecting.
Living the moment is one thing, recalling it and using the memory to heighten your positive emotions in the present is quite another. That means learning how to use an Enchanted Moment to boost your mood, and to heighten your sense of pleasure in the ‘now’ moment.
I can give you one example of using an Enchanted Moment from the past for heightening the present and the fascinating thing is that it wasn’t even mine. The memory comes from someone else’s mind. I heard the memory on public radio years ago. A woman was talking about growing up in either India or Pakistan. She was saying how on really hot days her grandmother would give the kids a delicious cool tea drink that seemed to cool them off rather nicely. Then the children (I think there were three of them) would all lie down on a big bed in the home that the generational family shared. The grandma would close the blinds and the fan would be going. And even though it was so hot outside in the middle of the day, they would have the most delicious nap. The breeze recreated by the fan was just enough, lying on the cool sheets. They would wake up refreshed and infused with happiness.
I think about this Enchanted Moment a lot. I see a room decorated with beautiful wood furniture from India. I see the grandma dressed in a traditional costume of light silk material. She has on bangles on her arms that make a soft tickling noise. The kids change out of their day clothes and put on lightweight pajamas to take a nap. I see the grandma closing the shutters and I can hear exotic birds singing outside of the window. And I can taste the cool tea drink and the sweet cookies that are served with the drink. I can hear the children laughing and begging for a story from the old days before they fall asleep. And I can see the blue sky through the cracks in the shutter. And it all feels so good with so many exotic aromas. Not just a noisy air conditioner and a television on in the next room.
So you see, how I have used someone else’s memory to create an Enchanted emotional moment for myself. I hope you have enjoyed this moment and will practice bringing similar moments into your mind, whether they are from your past or someone else’s.
Dr. Barbara Becker Holstien, www.enchantedself.com
