Balance! It is said to be the keyword for a happy life. Many people concur with the phrase ‘There should be balance in everything you do in life’. However, it is widely known that the balance is often shaken or even inexistent in the modern hustle and bustle of life. Most times people tend not to cherish the moment, not because they are unwilling to do so; but their minds are so burdened by reality, their obligations, and worries, that happy moments are perceived as an item rather than a lived experience. Why does cherishing the moment seem difficult nowadays?

The quote ‘There should be balance in everything you do in life’ might be perceived as inapplicable daily even in the long run of life. A probable reason is that the modern era increases the psychological difficulty that people face when they experience a positive moment. The accelerated pace of life can be compared to a continuous sprint. This daily occasion spikes their anxiety, making it difficult to relax and relish the moment. Stress is a common, preventing factor concerning happiness. It disturbs people's well-being, raising their cortisol, hence it feels challenging to live in the moment. Literally, the majority of people might regard happy moments as sacred. The belief in sacred moments stems from tradition. Celebrating traditional festivities evokes happiness, shaping core moments for people. A compelling amount of research presented points to the potential beneficial therapeutic effects of cultivating sacred moments. However, according to the article ‘Sacred Moments: Implications on Well-Being and Stress’ attention has also been brought to possible risks of this endeavor.

Positive festivities such as birthdays, Christmas, Easter, namedays, and even personal successes, are some core moments in which people indulge in their happiness. Since there appears to be a correlation between happiness and sacred moments, sacred moments are defined in this study as “a moment in time that is imbued with sacred qualities.” For the purpose of this study, sacred qualities are understood as inherently spiritual in nature. Underwood (1999) describes it as: feelings of connection with and support from a transcendent source (e.g. God, a higher power, all of life), connection with others, purpose, gratefulness, awe, compassion, mercy, and/or a deep sense of inner peace.        

Also, happiness is a feeling that it is interrelated with peace. In sequence, peace is an inextricable part of our well-being. One study suggests that people who experience more sacred moments in daily life experience more meaning, happiness, and less stress overall. Numerous researchers (e.g., Emmons & McCullough, 2003; Maslow, 1970; Palmer, 1999; Underwood & Teresi, 2002; White, 1994) have shown that cognitive and affective components of sacred moments have positive correlations to constructs of well-being and negative links to stress. Hence, the connection between well-being and sacred moments is the term ‘mindfulness’. Mindfulness is the word which creates a form of ‘balance’ within the vast definition of happiness. Namely, it has been defined as “an enhanced attention to and awareness of current experience in present reality” (Brown & Ryan, 2003, p. 822). Teasdale (1995) found that mindfulness allows one’s attention to focus on a wide range of thoughts, feelings, and experiences. We should cherish these moments fully, as they add meaning and colour to our lives and not consider them black and white ordinary happy moments. 

Furthermore, besides a few studies (e.g., Kabat-Zinn, 1982; Shapiro et al., 1998; Wachholtz & Pargament, 2005), the literature in the field of spirituality and well-being is almost entirely correlational. Although, this research has resulted in many positive results, including a significant increase in subjective well-being (SWB), five out of six variables of psychological well-being (PWB), stress-reduction, and the occurrence of daily spiritual experiences. It is understood that many factors, such as life transitions, personality factors, and genetic influences, may have confounded the results.

Another contributor to happiness is the feeling of gratitude. “Gratitude is the disposition to feel and express thankfulness consistently over time and across situations” (Emmons and Crumpler 2000). It is a “a generalized tendency to recognize and respond with grateful emotion to the roles of other people’s benevolence in the positive experiences and outcomes that one obtains”. Gratitude is closely connected to happiness, as well as people’s overall well-being. A person’s well-being is affected by their present reality. Daily obligations create a stressful routine that discourage people from validating the moment. Personally, cherishing happy moments in life and considering them special, intensifies the positive feelings of a memory. Hence, happy memories reflect gratitude when remembered. Gratitude’s most important aspect is relishing the moment, accepting spirituality (e.g. praying to god), and thanking others. The phrase “cherish blessings” focuses on what one has rather than what one lacks. ‘What one has’ includes material possessions and such things as one’s health or opportunities. One more example is “appreciate hardship” which refers to using one’s perceived losses, experiences of adversity, or close calls to promote appreciating the positive aspects of one’s life. Finally, the “cherish the moment” is engaging in mindful awareness of the “here and now,” one’s surroundings and their positive qualities (Lin and Yeh 2011). 

Emmons and Crumpler (2000) stated that “gratitude is a relational virtue that involves strong feelings of appreciation toward significant others”. Conceptually, gratitude should be expected to be strongly related to well-being. Gratitude represents the quintessential positive personality trait, being an indicator of a worldview orientated towards noticing and appreciating the positive in life (Wood et al. 2008c). Empirically, gratitude is a strong predictor of subjective happiness or a sense of well-being (e.g., Froh et al. 2009; Nelson 2009; Toussaint and Friedman 2009; Wood et al. 2008a, 2010). 

Numerous studies have established the connection between gratitude and well being. The Big Five domains in personality psychology are the following: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Which represent most of personality at the highest level of abstraction (Goldberg 1993; John and Srivastava 1999). These variables cover the breadth of personality, including positive and negative effects (respectively, existing under extraversion and neuroticism). The higher-order construct appears to represent a “wider life orientation towards the positive” (Wood et al. 2009a, p. 43) involving a “broaden worldview towards noticing and appreciating the positive in life” (e.g., “cherish blessings”, “appreciate hardship”, and “cherish the moment”) (Wood et al. 2009b, p. 443). Notably, among the higher-order gratitude, “Cherish blessings” was the strong predictor predicting life satisfaction. “Cherish blessings” is noticing, acknowledging, and feeling good about (e.g., appreciating) what we have in our lives. “What we have” refers to anything we experience as “being with us” and “connected to us” in some meaningful way.

The life orientation towards noticing and appreciating the positive in life is considered a trait or (dispositional) tendency. Furthermore, gratitude seems to be related to both time, perspective, and life satisfaction, all are factors that result in happiness. Also with reference to the article “People with Positive Time Perspective are More Grateful and Happier: Gratitude Mediates the Relationship Between Time Perspective and Life Satisfaction”, perspectives involving a positive attitude towards time (Past-Positive, Present-Hedonistic, Eudaimonic, Carpe Diem, and Future TPs) were related to a higher level of gratitude and to higher life satisfaction. This is in line with studies showing that positive views of the past were related to happiness while negative views of the past were linked to depression (Stolarski et al. 2014).

In general, positive occasions such as sacred moments, feelings, gratitude, and well-being, compared to negative emotions and stress which are an indicative factor to why people struggle to cherish the moment. Hence, all these reasons prevent individuals from enjoying and cherishing happiness. There are two dimensions that contribute and enhance this negative feeling in happy moments. These dimensions are interconnected because happiness is considered both a personal goal and a culture ‘ritual’ like the sacred moments.  Emotional state is significant for happiness, so it is affected by daily life situations and anxiety. 

To conclude, living a balanced life today is difficult because the speed and stress of modern life keep people from being fully present. Cherishing the moment requires mindfulness, gratitude, and awareness of life’s sacred moments. When we slow down, appreciate what we have, and find peace in everyday experiences, we restore balance and rediscover true happiness.

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