ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the case for considering the process of savoring as crucial in relation to a number of important human concerns. It focuses on those human concerns upon which we think savoring processes might have an impact. The chapter highlights five processes through which one's savoring of a beloved can communicate love—namely, appreciative sharing and mutuality, self-disclosure, minding, collaboration, and sexual empathy. Sharing the joy of camaraderie brings people closer together, enhances the quality, depth, resilience, and longevity of their friendships, and promotes the selfless agape love of close friendship. Over the course of a lifetime, a rich and varied history of savoring should be predictive of not only a higher quality of life, but also a higher quantity of life. Dwelling on one's depression and savoring life are mutually exclusive processes. Savoring permeates religion most clearly in the religious practices of prayer and worship.
