September 15, 2025 • 25 mins
The Power of Micro Joys: Building Psychological Resilience through Tiny Pleasures
In this episode of PsyberSpace, host Leslie Poston explores the concept of micro joys—small, spontaneous moments of delight that contribute significantly to our mental well-being. Contrary to the cultural emphasis on major achievements and peak experiences, micro joys provide a sustainable foundation for psychological resilience. Backed by research in positive psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral science, the episode reveals how these tiny positive experiences can help manage stress, depression, and burnout. Leslie discusses how to identify and savor these moments, emphasizing that they are accessible to everyone, require no special circumstances, and can be especially beneficial during difficult times.
00:00 Introduction to Micro Joys
01:47 The Science Behind Micro Joys
03:48 Characteristics of Micro Joys
05:55 Micro Joys vs. Other Positive Practices
12:05 Micro Joys in Mental Health
21:54 Practical Tips for Noticing Micro Joys
25:17 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Leslie Poston (00:12):
Welcome back to PsyberSpace. I'm your host,
Leslie Poston. Today we'retalking about how a good pen,
your dog's ears, or the perfectmeme might be saving your mental
health. We live in a culturethat worships the big win, the
promotion that validates decadesof work, the milestone birthday
(00:34):
that marks another decadesurvived and thrived, the life
changing vacation that becomesthe highlight reel of your year.
When social media isn't busyamplifying anger or fear, social
media is busy amplifying thisperfectionist narrative.
We're constantly seeing curatedmoments of peak joy, major
(00:56):
achievements, and transformativeexperiences. But what if those
things aren't actually what keepus afloat day to day? This
episode is about micro joystiny, repeated moments that
deliver more psychologicalresilience than we give them
credit for. These aren't justcute or quirky lifestyle tips.
(01:18):
They represent a fundamentalshift in how we understand
sustainable well-being.
And they're backed by decades ofresearch in positive psychology,
neuroscience, and behavioralscience. If you're burnt out,
grieving, distracted, or justtired of waiting for the next
big thing to make you happy,this episode's for you. Let's
(01:40):
dig into why the small stuffmight be doing more heavy
lifting for your mental healththan you know. We're taught to
wait for happiness, to defer ourjoy until we've earned it
through achievement, milestone,or circumstance. This cultural
narrative suggests thatcontentment comes from rare,
(02:01):
peak experiences, the kind thatmake for good stories or perfect
Instagram posts.
But here's what the researchactually shows us: sustainable
well-being isn't built on rarepeaks of ecstasy. It's
constructed from frequent, lowintensity positive experiences
that accumulate over time. Thisinsight comes from decades of
(02:24):
work in hedonic psychology, thestudy of pleasure and happiness.
Researchers like Ed Diener andDaniel Kahneman discovered that
our emotional baseline isn'tdetermined by how high our highs
are but how often we experiencesmall positives and how
effectively we recover fromnegatives. Think of it this way.
(02:47):
If you charted your mood over atypical month, the line likely
wouldn't look like a flatbaseline punctuated by dramatic
spikes during major events. Itwould likely look much more like
gentle waves. Small ups anddowns that reflect your daily
encounters with minor pleasuresor minor irritations. The smell
(03:08):
of coffee brewing in themorning, the satisfying weight
of a perfectly balanced pen inyour hand, the moment when
sunlight hits your face atexactly the right angle during
golden hour, your dog'sridiculous face when they're
concentrating on something.These experiences might seem
trivial, but they're actuallythe building blocks of
(03:29):
psychological resilience.
This doesn't mean you stopcelebrating promotions or
planning vacations. It means youstop discounting the small
moments that happen betweenthose bigger events. They're the
scaffolding that helps yourmental health stay strong. So
what exactly are microjoys?They're small, often spontaneous
(03:54):
moments of authentic delightthat arise from direct
experience rather than externalvalidation or achievement.
We often call them tinypleasures. Microjoys have
several key characteristics thatdistinguish them from other
forms of positive experiences.First, they're self generated
(04:14):
and immediately accessible. Youdon't need permission, money, or
special circumstances toexperience the pleasure of clean
sheets against your skin or yourfavorite song coming on the
radio. These moments aredemocratically available.
Second, they're sensory andembodied. Unlike the abstract
(04:35):
satisfaction of checkingsomething off a to do list,
microjoys often engage yoursenses directly. The texture of
tree bark under your fingers,the sound of rain on the roof,
the sight of light filteringthrough leaves in a specific way
that catches your attention.Third, they have emotional
(04:57):
authenticity. A micro joy isn'tsomething you think you should
enjoy.
It's something that genuinelysparks a moment of delight,
often unexpectedly. Laughing atan absurd meme that perfectly
captures the mood and sending itto a friend. Watching a squirrel
attempt an elaborate acrobaticmaneuver just to reach birdseed.
(05:20):
Feeling the specificsatisfaction of organizing
something in a way that justpleases your brain. This is
different from manufactureddopamine hits we get from social
media likes or mobile gamerewards.
Those experiences are designedto create dependency through
intermittent reinforcementschedules. They spike your
(05:43):
pleasure quickly, but then theyleave you wanting more.
Microjoys don't create the sameaddictive cycle. They land more
gently and don't demandescalation. Microjoys are also
distinct from gratitudepractice.
Although they can complementeach other, gratitude often
(06:03):
involves cognitive reflection onpositive aspects of your life
appreciating your health, yourrelationships, or your
opportunities. Microjoys aremore immediate than
experiential. They're aboutnoticing what's happening right
now that brings you a spark ofpleasure, however brief. And
(06:24):
they're definitely not toxicpositivity. Macro joys don't
require you to ignore yourproblems or pretend everything
is fine.
They're simply moments whensomething small and good breaks
through whatever else ishappening. You can be grieving
and still notice the wayafternoon light creates patterns
(06:44):
on the wall. You can be stressedabout work or politics and still
feel a moment of delight whenyour dog's ears flop over and
look exactly like Dorito chips.These moments are often
overlooked precisely becausethey're not dramatic. But
psychological research tells usthey might be more
psychologically significant thanwe've recognized as far as
(07:07):
building resilience against theeveryday lows of life.
The formal study of these smallpositive experiences looks at
the psychology of savoring, alearnable psychological skill
with measurable impacts on yourmental health. When people
deliberately pause to notice andextend positive experiences even
(07:32):
tiny pleasures they reporthigher levels of life
satisfaction, increased positiveaffect, and better emotional
regulation. Here's what happensneurologically when you savor
one of life's tiny pleasures.The act of conscious attention
to a positive experienceactivates regions of the
prefrontal cortex associatedwith emotional regulation and
(07:56):
memory consolidation. It alsoengages the brain's reward
pathways not through the quickspike and crash pattern of
addictive behaviors, but througha more sustained, gentle
activation that reinforces theneural pathways associated with
noticing good things.
Research has identified threetypes of savoring: anticipation
(08:19):
present moment and reminiscencereflecting back on positive
memories. Microjoys primarilyengage present moment savoring,
but they can also creatematerial for positive
(08:39):
reminiscence later. Theneuroscience gets even more
interesting when you considerhow savoring interacts with
hedonic adaptation, which is ourbrain's tendency to adjust to
positive experiences and stopnoticing them over time. This is
why the excitement of a new jobor a new relationship tends to
(09:01):
fade as it becomes familiar. Butsabering can slow down this
adaptation process.
When you consciously attend tosmall positive experiences,
you're essentially telling yourbrain, this matters. Pay
attention to this. Rememberthis. You're actively working
(09:22):
against your neural tendency totune out the familiar and the
pleasant. Recent studies ofsavoring interventions show
consistent benefits acrossdiverse populations.
Brief savoring exercises, assimple as taking time each day
to notice and appreciate smallpositive moments, reliably boost
(09:42):
psychological well-being andreduce negative affect, even in
people dealing with chronicstress or depression. The
effects aren't huge we're nottalking about miracle cures
here. But they're consistent,and they're cumulative. This
means small improvements indaily mood regulation compound
over time into more significantchanges in overall life
(10:05):
satisfaction and resilience. Themore you exercise your savoring
muscle, the better it's going toget.
From a memory and attentionperspective, microjoys have
several characteristics thatmake them particularly sticky,
likely to be encoded andremembered if you've exercised
(10:28):
your savoring muscle. First,they often involve a small
moment of novelty or contrast.Your brain is constantly
filtering information, payingattention to what's new,
different, or unexpected. Amicro joy often represents just
a small disruption in routine, Aparticularly beautiful cloud
(10:48):
formation, an unexpectedly funnyinteraction, a moment when
familiar smells just hit youdifferently. This novelty makes
the experience more likely toregister consciously and, with
practice, to be stored inmemory.
Second, they're often multisensory. Experiences that engage
(11:09):
multiple senses simultaneouslyare encoded more richly in our
memories. The tiny pleasure of aperfect bite of food involves
taste, smell, texture, andsometimes even sound. The joy of
petting an animal engages touch,sight, and often the emotional
reward of social connection.Third, microjoys frequently
(11:33):
occur when you're in areceptive, attentional state.
They tend to happen during thosemoments of relative calm or
openness. When you're walking,transitioning between
activities, or when you're witha group of friends or family
members who make you feel safe.Or when you're engaged in a
routine task that doesn'trequire intense cognitive focus.
(11:57):
This receptive state allows forthe kind of broad, open
attention that notices small,positive details. Here's where
it gets a little moreinteresting for mental health.
When you're experiencing stress,anxiety, or depression, your
attention tends to narrow. Youbecome hypervigilant to threats
(12:18):
or problems, and your brainfilters out a lot of potentially
positive information. This isadaptive in the short term. It
helps you focus on solving yourimmediate problem. But it
becomes problematic if itbecomes chronic.
Microjoys can serve as tensionalanchors small positive
(12:40):
experiences that break throughthis narrowed focus and remind
your nervous system that noteverything in your environment
is a problem. They provideevidence that good things still
exist and are still accessibleto you. This is why a single
sensory experience a specificsmell, a particular quality of
(13:03):
light, a moment of physicalcomfort can sometimes shift your
entire emotional state. It's notthat a tiny pleasure solves all
of your problems, but ittemporarily interrupts the
mental loop of stress orrumination and gives your
nervous system a different kindof information to process. The
(13:25):
dopamine system is also involvedhere, but not in the way you
might expect.
Rather than creating a hugespike followed by a crash, micro
joys seem to provide rewardprediction error small, pleasant
surprises that keep your brain'sreward system engaged without
overwhelming it. The mentalhealth applications of microjoy
(13:49):
awareness become especiallyimportant when we're dealing
with difficult lifecircumstances: grief, burnout,
chronic illness, depression ortrauma recovery those types of
things. During these periods,traditional sources of joy or
motivation can often feelinaccessible or inappropriate.
(14:10):
The idea of practicing gratitudemight feel forced or even
offensive when you're in genuinepain. Major pleasures like
social events, travel, orachievement based satisfaction
might be temporarily out ofreach or emotionally
unavailable.
But micro joys don't require youto be in a good place
emotionally to experience them.They're not about forcing
(14:33):
positivity or denyingdifficulty. They're simply about
maintaining some connection tothe reality that pleasant
experiences still exist, stillexist and are still available to
you, even in small doses.Research on positive psychology
interventions in clinicalpopulations shows that
(14:54):
micropleasure practices can beparticularly effective for
people with depression whereanhedonia or the inability to
experience pleasure is a coresymptom. When major sources of
enjoyment feel flat orunreachable, training attention
towards smaller positiveexperiences can help maintain
(15:16):
some connection to pleasure andreward.
In grief counseling, therapistsoften encourage clients to
notice small moments of beautyor connection not as a way to
get over their loss, but as away to remember that their
capacity for positive experiencehasn't been permanently damaged.
A moment of delight watchingbirds doesn't dishonor the
(15:40):
person you lost. It's evidencethat your emotional range is
still intact. For burnoutrecovery, micro joys can serve
as low demand sources ofrestoration. When you're
exhausted by work or caregivingresponsibilities, major self
care activities might feel likeadditional tasks on your to do
list.
(16:00):
But noticing the way steam risesfrom your coffee cup or taking
thirty seconds to appreciate howsoft your sweater feels requires
no planning, scheduling, orenergy expenditure. The research
on this is still developing, butearly studies suggest that
micropleasure practices canfunction as a form of emotional
(16:21):
regulation that's sustainablebecause it doesn't require
external resources or perfectcircumstances. From a behavioral
psychology perspective, microjoys can also function as
intrinsic motivators positiveexperiences that make us more
likely to repeat behaviors ormaintain beneficial habits. This
(16:44):
connects to research ontemptation bundling pairing
activities that you should dowith activities you enjoy. But
MicroJoy's take this conceptdeeper by suggesting that we can
learn to find small pleasureswithin beneficial activities
themselves rather than justpairing them with external
rewards.
(17:05):
For example, if you want tomaintain a meditation practice
but find it boring or difficult,you might begin to notice the
micro joy of settling into acomfortable position, the
pleasant weight of a blanketaround your shoulders, or the
satisfying ritual of lighting acandle. These small positive
experiences become anchors thatmake you more likely to return
(17:27):
to the practice. This isn'tabout making everything
artificially pleasant. It'sabout becoming more aware of the
pleasures that are alreadyavailable within the activities
that support your well-being.The satisfaction of completing a
small organizational task, thephysical pleasure of stretching
(17:48):
or making some kind of gentlemovement, the sensory experience
of preparing and eatingnourishing food.
Habit research tells us thatbehaviors sustained by intrinsic
satisfaction are more resilientthan those maintained by
external motivation or willpoweralone. When a habit has embedded
(18:09):
moments of genuine pleasure,you're more likely to maintain
it during periods of stress orwhen your external motivators
disappear. Research on habitformation discusses making
habits attractive andsatisfying. Microjoys represent
the internal dimension of thisprinciple: learning to notice
and appreciate the smallsatisfactions that come from
(18:33):
taking care of yourself andengaging in activities that
align with your values. Iscrucial to recognize that micro
joys aren't universal.
What brings one person a sparkof delight might be neutral or
even annoying to someone else.And these differences aren't
(18:53):
random. They're often tied toneurological, cultural, or
personal factors that deserveour respect and attention.
Neurodivergent individuals mayexperience sensory pleasure and
micro joys very differently fromneurotypical people. Someone
with ADHD might find particularsatisfaction in fidgeting with
(19:15):
textured objects or in thedopamine hit of organizing
something in a way very specificto how their brain works.
Someone with autism might haveintense, positive responses to
certain sounds, textures, orvisual patterns while finding
other commonly pleasantexperiences overwhelming or
(19:36):
aversive. Sensory processingdifferences mean that what reads
as a gentle, pleasant stimulusto one person might be too
intense or too subtle foranother. This isn't a it's
valuable information about howto curate personally meaningful
positive experiences. Peoplewith anxiety or trauma histories
(19:59):
might find that some commonlycited micro joys like being
touched by pets or suddenchanges in light or sound,
trigger stress responses ratherthan pleasure. This doesn't mean
microjoys aren't available tothem, but it means they need to
develop their own personalizedunderstanding of what small
experiences feel genuinelypleasant and safe to them.
(20:23):
Cultural differences also mattersignificantly. Some cultures
have rich traditions aroundnoticing and appreciating small
daily pleasures. The Japaneseconcept of mono na aoware, which
is the bittersweet awareness ofthe impermanence of things, or
the Danish hygge, which is cozycontentment, the Indian practice
(20:48):
of finding joy in simple dailyritual. Other cultural contexts
emphasize achievement,productivity, and future
oriented thinking in ways thatmight make present moment
micropleasures feel indulgent orinappropriate. There's nothing
wrong with either approach, butit's worth recognizing how
(21:08):
cultural messaging affects yourrelationship with small positive
experiences.
Individual differences intemperament also play a role.
Some people are naturally moreattuned to sensory details and
environmental changes, whileothers are more internally
focused or goal oriented. Somepeople find joy in novelty and
(21:31):
stimulation, and others wantfamiliarity and routine. The key
is developing your own microjoyliteracy, understanding what
genuinely brings you smallmoments of pleasure or relief,
rather than trying to force anappreciation for experiences
that don't resonate with yourparticular nervous system or
(21:51):
life circumstance. So how do youmake this practical?
How do you begin developinggreater awareness of the small
positive experiences that arealready available in your daily
life? The first step is simplynoticing without judgment. For a
(22:12):
few days, pay attention tomoments when you feel even a
tiny spark of pleasure,satisfaction, contentment, or
relief. Don't worry aboutwhether these moments seem
significant or worthy of yourattention just notice them. You
might discover that you haveconsistent patterns.
(22:33):
Maybe you're very sensitive tocertain types of light, or you
find certain specific fabrics ortextures especially satisfying.
Or maybe there are particularsounds that instantly improve
your mood. This information isvaluable data about how your
nervous system responds todifferent types of stimuli. Some
(22:55):
people find it helpful to keep amicro joy log in a note on their
phone or a section of a journal,or even just mental
acknowledgment of small positivemoments as they happen. The act
of recording isn't the point.
The act of noticing is, though.Others prefer photo
documentation. Taking picturesnot for social media, but just
(23:18):
as a way of training yourattention towards small visual
pleasures. The pattern ofshadows on a wall, an
interesting architecturaldetail, your friend in a moment
of silliness or your pet havingthe zoomies. You can also
experiment with deliberatesavoring practices.
When you notice a micro joyhappening, try extending it
(23:41):
slightly. If you're enjoying thetaste of something, pause and
really focus on the flavor. Ifyou're appreciating a moment of
comfortable temperature orlighting, take an extra second
to just be fully present withthe physical experience. The key
here is avoiding the trap ofmaking us into another
productivity system or selfimprovement project. Microjoys
(24:06):
aren't about optimizing yourhappiness or achieving a
particular emotional state.
They're about maintainingconnection with the reality that
pleasant experiences exist andare accessible to you, even in
small doses, even duringdifficult times. Remember, this
isn't trivial lifestyle fluff.You're building your mental
(24:28):
scaffolding. The capacity tonotice and appreciate small
positive experiences is a formof emotional regulation that
costs nothing, requires nospecial equipment or
circumstance, and becomes moreavailable with practice. Your
brain isn't always looking for acomplete life overhaul or a
major breakthrough.
(24:49):
Sometimes it just wantsacknowledgment that this
particular moment containssomething worth noticing.
Whether that's a color, texture,sound, or just a tiny sense of,
hey, this is kinda nice. In aworld that often feels
overwhelming and demanding, theability to find small pockets of
pleasure and peace becomes anact of tiny resistance and self
(25:10):
care. And not because it fixeseverything, but because it
reminds you that not everythingis broken. Thanks for listening
to this episode of PsyberSpace.
This is your host, LesliePoston, signing off. Until next
time, stay curious, and maybepay attention to one small thing
today that brings you just amoment of delight, however
(25:31):
brief, however simple. It'sprobably doing more for your
well-being than you know. Anddon't forget: subscribe to get
an episode every week. And sendit to a friend if you think
they'd enjoy it.
Welcome back to PsyberSpace. I'm your host,
Leslie Poston. Today we'retalking about how a good pen,
your dog's ears, or the perfectmeme might be saving your mental
health. We live in a culturethat worships the big win, the
promotion that validates decadesof work, the milestone birthday
(00:34):
that marks another decadesurvived and thrived, the life
changing vacation that becomesthe highlight reel of your year.
When social media isn't busyamplifying anger or fear, social
media is busy amplifying thisperfectionist narrative.
We're constantly seeing curatedmoments of peak joy, major
(00:56):
achievements, and transformativeexperiences. But what if those
things aren't actually what keepus afloat day to day? This
episode is about micro joystiny, repeated moments that
deliver more psychologicalresilience than we give them
credit for. These aren't justcute or quirky lifestyle tips.
(01:18):
They represent a fundamentalshift in how we understand
sustainable well-being.
And they're backed by decades ofresearch in positive psychology,
neuroscience, and behavioralscience. If you're burnt out,
grieving, distracted, or justtired of waiting for the next
big thing to make you happy,this episode's for you. Let's
(01:40):
dig into why the small stuffmight be doing more heavy
lifting for your mental healththan you know. We're taught to
wait for happiness, to defer ourjoy until we've earned it
through achievement, milestone,or circumstance. This cultural
narrative suggests thatcontentment comes from rare,
(02:01):
peak experiences, the kind thatmake for good stories or perfect
Instagram posts.
But here's what the researchactually shows us: sustainable
well-being isn't built on rarepeaks of ecstasy. It's
constructed from frequent, lowintensity positive experiences
that accumulate over time. Thisinsight comes from decades of
(02:24):
work in hedonic psychology, thestudy of pleasure and happiness.
Researchers like Ed Diener andDaniel Kahneman discovered that
our emotional baseline isn'tdetermined by how high our highs
are but how often we experiencesmall positives and how
effectively we recover fromnegatives. Think of it this way.
(02:47):
If you charted your mood over atypical month, the line likely
wouldn't look like a flatbaseline punctuated by dramatic
spikes during major events. Itwould likely look much more like
gentle waves. Small ups anddowns that reflect your daily
encounters with minor pleasuresor minor irritations. The smell
(03:08):
of coffee brewing in themorning, the satisfying weight
of a perfectly balanced pen inyour hand, the moment when
sunlight hits your face atexactly the right angle during
golden hour, your dog'sridiculous face when they're
concentrating on something.These experiences might seem
trivial, but they're actuallythe building blocks of
(03:29):
psychological resilience.
This doesn't mean you stopcelebrating promotions or
planning vacations. It means youstop discounting the small
moments that happen betweenthose bigger events. They're the
scaffolding that helps yourmental health stay strong. So
what exactly are microjoys?They're small, often spontaneous
(03:54):
moments of authentic delightthat arise from direct
experience rather than externalvalidation or achievement.
We often call them tinypleasures. Microjoys have
several key characteristics thatdistinguish them from other
forms of positive experiences.First, they're self generated
(04:14):
and immediately accessible. Youdon't need permission, money, or
special circumstances toexperience the pleasure of clean
sheets against your skin or yourfavorite song coming on the
radio. These moments aredemocratically available.
Second, they're sensory andembodied. Unlike the abstract
(04:35):
satisfaction of checkingsomething off a to do list,
microjoys often engage yoursenses directly. The texture of
tree bark under your fingers,the sound of rain on the roof,
the sight of light filteringthrough leaves in a specific way
that catches your attention.Third, they have emotional
(04:57):
authenticity. A micro joy isn'tsomething you think you should
enjoy.
It's something that genuinelysparks a moment of delight,
often unexpectedly. Laughing atan absurd meme that perfectly
captures the mood and sending itto a friend. Watching a squirrel
attempt an elaborate acrobaticmaneuver just to reach birdseed.
(05:20):
Feeling the specificsatisfaction of organizing
something in a way that justpleases your brain. This is
different from manufactureddopamine hits we get from social
media likes or mobile gamerewards.
Those experiences are designedto create dependency through
intermittent reinforcementschedules. They spike your
(05:43):
pleasure quickly, but then theyleave you wanting more.
Microjoys don't create the sameaddictive cycle. They land more
gently and don't demandescalation. Microjoys are also
distinct from gratitudepractice.
Although they can complementeach other, gratitude often
(06:03):
involves cognitive reflection onpositive aspects of your life
appreciating your health, yourrelationships, or your
opportunities. Microjoys aremore immediate than
experiential. They're aboutnoticing what's happening right
now that brings you a spark ofpleasure, however brief. And
(06:24):
they're definitely not toxicpositivity. Macro joys don't
require you to ignore yourproblems or pretend everything
is fine.
They're simply moments whensomething small and good breaks
through whatever else ishappening. You can be grieving
and still notice the wayafternoon light creates patterns
(06:44):
on the wall. You can be stressedabout work or politics and still
feel a moment of delight whenyour dog's ears flop over and
look exactly like Dorito chips.These moments are often
overlooked precisely becausethey're not dramatic. But
psychological research tells usthey might be more
psychologically significant thanwe've recognized as far as
(07:07):
building resilience against theeveryday lows of life.
The formal study of these smallpositive experiences looks at
the psychology of savoring, alearnable psychological skill
with measurable impacts on yourmental health. When people
deliberately pause to notice andextend positive experiences even
(07:32):
tiny pleasures they reporthigher levels of life
satisfaction, increased positiveaffect, and better emotional
regulation. Here's what happensneurologically when you savor
one of life's tiny pleasures.The act of conscious attention
to a positive experienceactivates regions of the
prefrontal cortex associatedwith emotional regulation and
(07:56):
memory consolidation. It alsoengages the brain's reward
pathways not through the quickspike and crash pattern of
addictive behaviors, but througha more sustained, gentle
activation that reinforces theneural pathways associated with
noticing good things.
Research has identified threetypes of savoring: anticipation
(08:19):
present moment and reminiscencereflecting back on positive
memories. Microjoys primarilyengage present moment savoring,
but they can also creatematerial for positive
(08:39):
reminiscence later. Theneuroscience gets even more
interesting when you considerhow savoring interacts with
hedonic adaptation, which is ourbrain's tendency to adjust to
positive experiences and stopnoticing them over time. This is
why the excitement of a new jobor a new relationship tends to
(09:01):
fade as it becomes familiar. Butsabering can slow down this
adaptation process.
When you consciously attend tosmall positive experiences,
you're essentially telling yourbrain, this matters. Pay
attention to this. Rememberthis. You're actively working
(09:22):
against your neural tendency totune out the familiar and the
pleasant. Recent studies ofsavoring interventions show
consistent benefits acrossdiverse populations.
Brief savoring exercises, assimple as taking time each day
to notice and appreciate smallpositive moments, reliably boost
(09:42):
psychological well-being andreduce negative affect, even in
people dealing with chronicstress or depression. The
effects aren't huge we're nottalking about miracle cures
here. But they're consistent,and they're cumulative. This
means small improvements indaily mood regulation compound
over time into more significantchanges in overall life
(10:05):
satisfaction and resilience. Themore you exercise your savoring
muscle, the better it's going toget.
From a memory and attentionperspective, microjoys have
several characteristics thatmake them particularly sticky,
likely to be encoded andremembered if you've exercised
(10:28):
your savoring muscle. First,they often involve a small
moment of novelty or contrast.Your brain is constantly
filtering information, payingattention to what's new,
different, or unexpected. Amicro joy often represents just
a small disruption in routine, Aparticularly beautiful cloud
(10:48):
formation, an unexpectedly funnyinteraction, a moment when
familiar smells just hit youdifferently. This novelty makes
the experience more likely toregister consciously and, with
practice, to be stored inmemory.
Second, they're often multisensory. Experiences that engage
(11:09):
multiple senses simultaneouslyare encoded more richly in our
memories. The tiny pleasure of aperfect bite of food involves
taste, smell, texture, andsometimes even sound. The joy of
petting an animal engages touch,sight, and often the emotional
reward of social connection.Third, microjoys frequently
(11:33):
occur when you're in areceptive, attentional state.
They tend to happen during thosemoments of relative calm or
openness. When you're walking,transitioning between
activities, or when you're witha group of friends or family
members who make you feel safe.Or when you're engaged in a
routine task that doesn'trequire intense cognitive focus.
(11:57):
This receptive state allows forthe kind of broad, open
attention that notices small,positive details. Here's where
it gets a little moreinteresting for mental health.
When you're experiencing stress,anxiety, or depression, your
attention tends to narrow. Youbecome hypervigilant to threats
(12:18):
or problems, and your brainfilters out a lot of potentially
positive information. This isadaptive in the short term. It
helps you focus on solving yourimmediate problem. But it
becomes problematic if itbecomes chronic.
Microjoys can serve as tensionalanchors small positive
(12:40):
experiences that break throughthis narrowed focus and remind
your nervous system that noteverything in your environment
is a problem. They provideevidence that good things still
exist and are still accessibleto you. This is why a single
sensory experience a specificsmell, a particular quality of
(13:03):
light, a moment of physicalcomfort can sometimes shift your
entire emotional state. It's notthat a tiny pleasure solves all
of your problems, but ittemporarily interrupts the
mental loop of stress orrumination and gives your
nervous system a different kindof information to process. The
(13:25):
dopamine system is also involvedhere, but not in the way you
might expect.
Rather than creating a hugespike followed by a crash, micro
joys seem to provide rewardprediction error small, pleasant
surprises that keep your brain'sreward system engaged without
overwhelming it. The mentalhealth applications of microjoy
(13:49):
awareness become especiallyimportant when we're dealing
with difficult lifecircumstances: grief, burnout,
chronic illness, depression ortrauma recovery those types of
things. During these periods,traditional sources of joy or
motivation can often feelinaccessible or inappropriate.
(14:10):
The idea of practicing gratitudemight feel forced or even
offensive when you're in genuinepain. Major pleasures like
social events, travel, orachievement based satisfaction
might be temporarily out ofreach or emotionally
unavailable.
But micro joys don't require youto be in a good place
emotionally to experience them.They're not about forcing
(14:33):
positivity or denyingdifficulty. They're simply about
maintaining some connection tothe reality that pleasant
experiences still exist, stillexist and are still available to
you, even in small doses.Research on positive psychology
interventions in clinicalpopulations shows that
(14:54):
micropleasure practices can beparticularly effective for
people with depression whereanhedonia or the inability to
experience pleasure is a coresymptom. When major sources of
enjoyment feel flat orunreachable, training attention
towards smaller positiveexperiences can help maintain
(15:16):
some connection to pleasure andreward.
In grief counseling, therapistsoften encourage clients to
notice small moments of beautyor connection not as a way to
get over their loss, but as away to remember that their
capacity for positive experiencehasn't been permanently damaged.
A moment of delight watchingbirds doesn't dishonor the
(15:40):
person you lost. It's evidencethat your emotional range is
still intact. For burnoutrecovery, micro joys can serve
as low demand sources ofrestoration. When you're
exhausted by work or caregivingresponsibilities, major self
care activities might feel likeadditional tasks on your to do
list.
(16:00):
But noticing the way steam risesfrom your coffee cup or taking
thirty seconds to appreciate howsoft your sweater feels requires
no planning, scheduling, orenergy expenditure. The research
on this is still developing, butearly studies suggest that
micropleasure practices canfunction as a form of emotional
(16:21):
regulation that's sustainablebecause it doesn't require
external resources or perfectcircumstances. From a behavioral
psychology perspective, microjoys can also function as
intrinsic motivators positiveexperiences that make us more
likely to repeat behaviors ormaintain beneficial habits. This
(16:44):
connects to research ontemptation bundling pairing
activities that you should dowith activities you enjoy. But
MicroJoy's take this conceptdeeper by suggesting that we can
learn to find small pleasureswithin beneficial activities
themselves rather than justpairing them with external
rewards.
(17:05):
For example, if you want tomaintain a meditation practice
but find it boring or difficult,you might begin to notice the
micro joy of settling into acomfortable position, the
pleasant weight of a blanketaround your shoulders, or the
satisfying ritual of lighting acandle. These small positive
experiences become anchors thatmake you more likely to return
(17:27):
to the practice. This isn'tabout making everything
artificially pleasant. It'sabout becoming more aware of the
pleasures that are alreadyavailable within the activities
that support your well-being.The satisfaction of completing a
small organizational task, thephysical pleasure of stretching
(17:48):
or making some kind of gentlemovement, the sensory experience
of preparing and eatingnourishing food.
Habit research tells us thatbehaviors sustained by intrinsic
satisfaction are more resilientthan those maintained by
external motivation or willpoweralone. When a habit has embedded
(18:09):
moments of genuine pleasure,you're more likely to maintain
it during periods of stress orwhen your external motivators
disappear. Research on habitformation discusses making
habits attractive andsatisfying. Microjoys represent
the internal dimension of thisprinciple: learning to notice
and appreciate the smallsatisfactions that come from
(18:33):
taking care of yourself andengaging in activities that
align with your values. Iscrucial to recognize that micro
joys aren't universal.
What brings one person a sparkof delight might be neutral or
even annoying to someone else.And these differences aren't
(18:53):
random. They're often tied toneurological, cultural, or
personal factors that deserveour respect and attention.
Neurodivergent individuals mayexperience sensory pleasure and
micro joys very differently fromneurotypical people. Someone
with ADHD might find particularsatisfaction in fidgeting with
(19:15):
textured objects or in thedopamine hit of organizing
something in a way very specificto how their brain works.
Someone with autism might haveintense, positive responses to
certain sounds, textures, orvisual patterns while finding
other commonly pleasantexperiences overwhelming or
(19:36):
aversive. Sensory processingdifferences mean that what reads
as a gentle, pleasant stimulusto one person might be too
intense or too subtle foranother. This isn't a it's
valuable information about howto curate personally meaningful
positive experiences. Peoplewith anxiety or trauma histories
(19:59):
might find that some commonlycited micro joys like being
touched by pets or suddenchanges in light or sound,
trigger stress responses ratherthan pleasure. This doesn't mean
microjoys aren't available tothem, but it means they need to
develop their own personalizedunderstanding of what small
experiences feel genuinelypleasant and safe to them.
(20:23):
Cultural differences also mattersignificantly. Some cultures
have rich traditions aroundnoticing and appreciating small
daily pleasures. The Japaneseconcept of mono na aoware, which
is the bittersweet awareness ofthe impermanence of things, or
the Danish hygge, which is cozycontentment, the Indian practice
(20:48):
of finding joy in simple dailyritual. Other cultural contexts
emphasize achievement,productivity, and future
oriented thinking in ways thatmight make present moment
micropleasures feel indulgent orinappropriate. There's nothing
wrong with either approach, butit's worth recognizing how
(21:08):
cultural messaging affects yourrelationship with small positive
experiences.
Individual differences intemperament also play a role.
Some people are naturally moreattuned to sensory details and
environmental changes, whileothers are more internally
focused or goal oriented. Somepeople find joy in novelty and
(21:31):
stimulation, and others wantfamiliarity and routine. The key
is developing your own microjoyliteracy, understanding what
genuinely brings you smallmoments of pleasure or relief,
rather than trying to force anappreciation for experiences
that don't resonate with yourparticular nervous system or
(21:51):
life circumstance. So how do youmake this practical?
How do you begin developinggreater awareness of the small
positive experiences that arealready available in your daily
life? The first step is simplynoticing without judgment. For a
(22:12):
few days, pay attention tomoments when you feel even a
tiny spark of pleasure,satisfaction, contentment, or
relief. Don't worry aboutwhether these moments seem
significant or worthy of yourattention just notice them. You
might discover that you haveconsistent patterns.
(22:33):
Maybe you're very sensitive tocertain types of light, or you
find certain specific fabrics ortextures especially satisfying.
Or maybe there are particularsounds that instantly improve
your mood. This information isvaluable data about how your
nervous system responds todifferent types of stimuli. Some
(22:55):
people find it helpful to keep amicro joy log in a note on their
phone or a section of a journal,or even just mental
acknowledgment of small positivemoments as they happen. The act
of recording isn't the point.
The act of noticing is, though.Others prefer photo
documentation. Taking picturesnot for social media, but just
(23:18):
as a way of training yourattention towards small visual
pleasures. The pattern ofshadows on a wall, an
interesting architecturaldetail, your friend in a moment
of silliness or your pet havingthe zoomies. You can also
experiment with deliberatesavoring practices.
When you notice a micro joyhappening, try extending it
(23:41):
slightly. If you're enjoying thetaste of something, pause and
really focus on the flavor. Ifyou're appreciating a moment of
comfortable temperature orlighting, take an extra second
to just be fully present withthe physical experience. The key
here is avoiding the trap ofmaking us into another
productivity system or selfimprovement project. Microjoys
(24:06):
aren't about optimizing yourhappiness or achieving a
particular emotional state.
They're about maintainingconnection with the reality that
pleasant experiences exist andare accessible to you, even in
small doses, even duringdifficult times. Remember, this
isn't trivial lifestyle fluff.You're building your mental
(24:28):
scaffolding. The capacity tonotice and appreciate small
positive experiences is a formof emotional regulation that
costs nothing, requires nospecial equipment or
circumstance, and becomes moreavailable with practice. Your
brain isn't always looking for acomplete life overhaul or a
major breakthrough.
(24:49):
Sometimes it just wantsacknowledgment that this
particular moment containssomething worth noticing.
Whether that's a color, texture,sound, or just a tiny sense of,
hey, this is kinda nice. In aworld that often feels
overwhelming and demanding, theability to find small pockets of
pleasure and peace becomes anact of tiny resistance and self
(25:10):
care. And not because it fixeseverything, but because it
reminds you that not everythingis broken. Thanks for listening
to this episode of PsyberSpace.
This is your host, LesliePoston, signing off. Until next
time, stay curious, and maybepay attention to one small thing
today that brings you just amoment of delight, however
(25:31):
brief, however simple. It'sprobably doing more for your
well-being than you know. Anddon't forget: subscribe to get
an episode every week. And sendit to a friend if you think
they'd enjoy it.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.