Last week Andrew Denton interviewed Jerry Seinfeld, who’s in Australia promoting his new movie.
It was a great interview, and not just because we learned that Jerry’s kids (can I call him Jerry?) think he’s a bee, since that’s what he’s ‘been’ (hee hee) for most of their lives.
Rather, the glistening highlight for me was Jerry’s describing, in classic Seinfeld style, what has to be one of the least valued but most effective strategies for happiness – the happiness strategy of savoring.
I’ve included the relevant part of the transcript below, but it’s much more fun to see Jerry for yourself. Click on Jerry Seinfeld – Part 3 for the 2-minute video excerpt.
Here’s the transcript excerpt :
…one thing I did kind of get from [George Burns] is like if I get a really good cup of coffee I like to just go, you know what? Just hang on a second. This is a fantastic cup of coffee. Isn’t this a great – and I’ll ask everyone – isn’t this great coffee? Cos you know, it’s not always great. This one is great…
You will enjoy life more if you do that.
You know, you get a great parking spot, just go: Hold it a second, I mean look at that spot. I mean it’s – we could have been blocks away and we’re right here.
I’m not being at all facetious. I genuinely think this one strategy will change your life – it’s certainly changed mine since I began savoring a few years back. Now I happily savor simple things every day, and I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t savor:
- Ziggy, my iPod – I love to get jiggy with Ziggy
- Cliff, my coffee machine – how could the day begin without his aromatic emissions?
- Xander, my laptop – sweet, sweet child-o-mine
- my bed (unnamed – a strange oversight) – such a comfortable way to end the day
If you learn to savor your moments of delight, you’ll find yourself with a very dependable happiness strategy.
And there’s always something to savor, because, as Jerry says, ‘we could have been blocks away – and we’re right here’.
