Life’s simple pleasures can bring a surprising amount of happiness and contentment, and a new study set out to find what some of them are that people say are their favorites.
The OnePoll survey of 2,000 Americans for Small Luxury Hotels of the World found that listening to your favorite songs topped the list of favorite simple pleasures followed by a nice dinner in second place and watching your favorite movie in third. In the rest of the top 10, finishing a really good book came in fourth, doing exercise was fifth, spotting a species of bird you’ve never seen before came in sixth, seeing flowers and trees blossom was seventh, wearing an outfit that makes you feel good come in eighth, home cooking was ninth, and a match on a dating site came in 10th.
Some others on the list of 50 included: not having to set the alarm on the weekend or a day off at Number 13; finding money you had forgotten about at Number 16; hearing the wind blow through the trees at Number 23; sleeping in a freshly made bed at Number 25; cake at Number 38; spontaneous outings at Number 43; and wearing a new pair of socks for the first time at Number 47. However, 63 percent said they don’t get to enjoy life’s simple pleasures often enough, with the average Americans only enjoying about eight moments of simple pleasure each week, or about one a day.
