You’ve likely heard Brené Brown’s phrase “dress-rehearsing tragedy” (from her book Dare to Lead), and if not, you probably immediately get what it means. According to Brown’s research, 90% of us do it: “Something wonderful happens, and for a brief second you let the joy wash over you — and then five seconds later, the excitement is gone and you’re panicked about a bad thing that’s going to happen to counter the positive. When’s the other shoe going to drop?”

In the face of joy, we imagine terrible scenarios, tell ourselves we’re bracing, preparing, practicing, in an effort to lessen the impact of the imagined inbound pain or disappointment. We’re dress-rehearsing tragedy. The antidote to this thoroughly pointless tendency, she tells us, is gratitude. Simply appreciating the good things in our lives as they happen — and actively, outwardly expressing that on a regular basis — can help break the catastrophizing habit and allow more joy into our lives.

I can attest to that, but a recent NYT Well newsletter by Jancee Dunn, on the power of savoring, contained an idea by a professor of social psychology named Dr. Fred Bryant that goes one step further:

“Dr. Bryant amps up his appreciation for the present by imagining himself in the future, pining for his current life. He has a 7-year-old granddaughter, and sometimes he’ll pretend that she is all grown up, has moved away, ‘and that I would give anything, just for one more day with her,’ he said. Then he opens his eyes and tells himself that his wish is granted.”

Corny? Maybe. But effective.

I do a version of this when it comes to sleep. If I’ve woken up in the middle of the night, or too early in the morning, with enough time left for at least a nap’s worth, I imagine I’ve already been up (or sometimes I actually get up for a minute and walk around the cold house) and that I get to slip back into bed for a precious nap. Imagining and savoring that stolen moment of curling up and tuning out the day, which I get to do so rarely, is often enough to put me right back to sleep.

[ IMAGE: A scene from an experience I routinely, actively savored in recent years — kayaking the river behind our house in Florida during our brief stint there, photo © Karen Templer ]