Areas of life that create immersive moments

Immersive moments come from many different experiences. Just think about some of the most immersive moments in your life. Were you alone or were you with other people? Were you doing something fun, or were you engaged in challenging work? Even though we will have different immersive experiences, we will all have several things in common. We will find immersive moments through relationships, meaningful work, growth and development, inspiration and impact, fun and relaxation. Immersive moments can also be enabled with good health, more money, and our surroundings. The balance of these areas of life will look different person to person. Some people can stay immersed longer in one area of life than others. Introverts often struggle to stay immersed in the moment with people and relationships as long as extroverts. You might be able to stay immersed in challenging work longer during some times of your life, and other times you might need more fun and relaxation to stay immersed in the moment. We can all work to find the right balance for us, and we can be tolerant and accepting of others if their balance looks different than others.

Here are the key areas of life where we can all find immersive moments and happiness:

Relationships - Studies on happiness have always shown the importance of relationships. Family and friends are essential to achieve happiness. Humans are social creatures, and we benefit greatly from being with others. Immersive moments in life often include being with those we love and want to be with. Some people might need and want more relationships in their life than others, but every person will increase the number of immersive moments in their life as they cultivate and prioritize the relationships they have. Neglecting relationships is a sure way to decrease the future immersive moments in our life. Sometimes it is necessary to walk away from a relationship if it is continually causing us to have negative experiences and is not helping us be immersed in the moment with that person.

Engaging work – When most people think about happiness, they often think first about relationships and fun moments. If they are asked if they have ever been happy while doing work, almost everyone will then remember many times when engaging work has brought them happiness. It can be very fulfilling to be immersed in the moment while engaged in work that we enjoy. The term “flow” is what describes those times when we are immersed in the moment while doing something challenging. Engaging work can bring immersive moments because our minds and bodies are focused on a single task. People enjoy challenges that are not too hard, and we are often learning while engaged in these tasks. If we are immersed in challenging work while at our job, we also have the benefit of improving our financial situation while we are immersed in the current moment.

Fun – We all need to have some moments in our life that our immersive just because they are fun. We will get tired and burned out if we are only focused on work all the time. Fun can come in many forms and will be different from person to person. The key is to be engaged in something that we are doing just for the pure enjoyment of it. Something that will make us smile and laugh.

Inspiration – Can you think of times when you have seen an amazing scene in nature, when you have heard an inspiring story, or when you have learned something that leaves you in awe? These experiences of wonder, awe, and inspiration can be very immersive. Wonder and awe are feelings that help us step away from the noise of other things and just be focused on what we are experiencing. Some examples of inspiring experiences are nature, inspiring people, religion, and service. We may feel awe from different experiences, but we all need to include these experiences in our life to have a good balance.

Personal development – I have heard some people say that happiness is growth. This statement normally comes from individuals who are trying to sell personal development products, but there is truth to this statement. Personal development and growth are ways that we can be immersed in the moment and feel happiness. Like challenging work, it can be very rewarding to learn something new or to do something better. Exercise is also a form of personal development that can be very immersive and rewarding.

Relaxation – Similar to fun, we all need some amount of relaxation in our life. Just like any area of life, we can have too much relaxation, and we could get bored of it. To make relaxation an immersive experience, we also need to choose the form of relaxation carefully. You can be sitting at a pool in the sunshine and still not be immersed in the moment if you are stressed about something. Mindless scrolling on social media is normally not very immersive because you are being distracted by flashing content instead of focusing your mind on the moment. Relaxation is immersive when we are doing something that calms our mind and body while being engaged in what we are doing. Many people find meditation to be very relaxing and effective to be immersed in the moment.

Combinations – The best thing we can do is combine these areas of our life into even more immersive experiences. It can be extremely satisfying to be engaged in a challenging task, that is also fun, with others that we love, and may even inspire us. As we combine the different areas of our life, we can find more happiness and can also help create more immersive moments in the future.

There are also key enablers to immersive moments. While these are not typically areas in our life where we have immersive moments, these are areas that can either help to enable immersive moments or can detract from them.

Money – I believe money can indeed buy happiness because it can buy immersive moments. I have had many immersive moments in my life that I couldn’t have had if I didn’t have the money for them. Money is definitely not needed for many immersive experiences, so a lot of money is not required to have more happiness in your life. Money can even buy or be the cause of unhappiness. If we buy a bunch of stuff that clutters our life and brings us extra work, we have just bought unhappiness. The pursuit of money while doing unenjoyable work can also leave us hating most of the moments in our life and can make us very unhappy. We all need to make sure we strike the right balance with money to ensure it enables more immersive moments while minimizing the negative moments that it can create.

Health – It is easier to increase the number of immersive moments in our life when we have good health. Poor health can be a big detractor from feeling immersed in the moment. Even short-term illness can make it much more difficult to enjoy and be engaged in what we are doing. Long term heath issues can really limit the different immersive experiences we can be involved in. This is also why we need a good balance between the different areas of our life. If we only focus on work while we have good health, we may not have the established relationships to provide future immersive moments as we age, and our health deteriorates. We may have also given up fun experiences that we are no longer able to have. Finding ways to have immersive moments that also improve our health will be an important enabler for more happiness in the future.

Surroundings – People often don’t think about how their surroundings can impact their ability to be immersed in the moment. It can be much more difficult to be immersed in the moment if we are not somewhere we really want to be, and if we wish we were somewhere else. It is important to find ways to make our surroundings conducive to immersive experiences. We need to be careful about materialism because this can lead to clutter or extra work to take care of our stuff. We can also be selective about where we live, where we work, and where we spend our time. Sometimes changing our surroundings can be extremely effective to immerse us in the current moment.