The Chocolate Pudding Principle
Last week, I made a splurge purchase of Swiss Miss chocolate pudding. I’m not sure what exactly I love about those little cups of dark chocolate deliciousness — especially because I am a bit dairy intolerant — but I enjoy every melty bite!
Recently, as I was taking the spoodful of a chilled pudding cup, I said out loud, “I am so glad chocolate pudding exists.” It was a strange thing to say to the world, but I really was feeling it in that moment.
Fast forward to this past weekend. My oldest son was returning from a camping trip with his boyscout troop. While sharing about his adventure and unpacking some of the leftover food sent home with the scouts, he pulled out of his bag cheese, chips, bread, and low and behold, three chocolate pudding cups!
I am well aware that my son may have grabbed them from the leftover stash, knowing my affinity for them. But, given the rush of packing up and departing, the thought, “my mom really likes these,” most likely never crossed his mind consciously.
This “coincidence” got me thinking about two things.
- How often do I actually speak my appreciation and love of things out loud — even if nobody is listening?
- Could the practice of verbally validating my bliss lead to more moments of serendipity and joy?
There is power in taking the time to notice and enjoy the things that delight your soul — no matter how big or small. There is even more power in speaking them out loud. I’ve often felt the positive effects of “verbal processing.” I joke that my evening walks with neighborhood friends are a necessary supplement for limited access to therapy. But it’s not just a feeling.
Science backs the benefits of thinking out loud.
In contrast to silent inner speech, which is often done in single words and condensed sentences, speaking out loud allows the retrieval of our thoughts in full, using different rythms and tones that deepen their meaning and encourage the creation of developed, complex ideas. So, speaking your appreciation or gratidue out loud is actually a generative activity that enhances thinking. (Talking out loud to yourself is a technology for thinking — Psyche)
The more we understand neurological phenomena like confirmation bias and frequency illusion, the more it makes sense to speak our joys out loud. When we say what we appreciate out loud, we use language to strengthen our positive beliefs about an experience, person, or object while increasing our tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information that reinforces those beliefs.
In short, using our voice to express gratitude creates a positive thought loop that continues to feed itself and our brains. That’s almost as exciting as chocolate pudding!
Neurocomms Terms to Know
Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior beliefs or values
Frequency illusion, also known as the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon or frequency bias, is a cognitive bias referring to the tendency to notice something more often after noticing it for the first time, leading to the belief that it has an increased frequency of occurrence.
