Verfreude

Musings 1 Minute

I feel really happy as I plan my vacation: the searching, making bookings, or even just marking the dates on calendar. At times, the build-up feels even better than the trip itself.

For a while I wondered if I was the only one… turns out, I am not.

The Germans even have a word for this feeling: Vorfreude—literally ‘pre-joy’ or the happiness of looking forward to something.

Vorfreude is that excitement you feel before something good happens – the joy borrowed from future.

Here are few everyday examples of Vorfreude

  • Preparing for your friend’s wedding
  • Seeing your phone light up with ‘delivered’ and hurrying home to open your new phone
  • Counting down the days until you finally meet a friend you haven’t seen in years.
  • After a long week, looking forward to putting on fresh pajamas and slipping into bed.

We don’t need a vacation to tap into Vorfreude. We can create it in small, everyday ways:

  • Plan small rituals. Movie night on Fridays, or an evening walk where you save your favorite audible book.
  • Break big goals into milestones. Training for a 5k? Look forward to each small win—new shoes, first 2k run, the celebratory coffee after practice.
  • Play with micro-anticipations. Leave your favorite chocolate for the weekend or plan which playlist you’ll hear on your commute tomorrow.

Vorfreude reminds us that happiness isn’t just about peak moments. Do you experience vorfreude?

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Published by Padma Rajeswari

At the outset, I would like to thank you for stopping by my Blog. I believe that there is nothing right or wrong in this world. What’s right in this moment and context may be wrong in another moment and context. This belief has inspired me to name my blog ‘Perspectives’. Perspectives is a platform for me to share my experiences, thoughts and perspectives on various subjects. You may have a different point of view. I look forward to hearing them, these are the triggers for rich and deep conversations. On personal front, I live in Mumbai, India. I love to read; Somerset Maugham and Nevil Shute are my favorite authors. My favorite books are The Razor’s Edge, Mrs. Craddock, Chequer Board and Gone with the Wind. I am thankful to my father who inculcated the habit of reading in me early on. I am also passionate about traveling, I have been to most parts of India and to several countries across the globe. On professional front, I work in Human Resources function. Over two and half decades, I have worked across multiple industries and cultures. I focus on Leadership Development, Talent Management, Visioning and Culture, Large-scale change, Employee Listening & Engagement, Employee Well-being, Inclusive work culture, HR effectiveness, Behavior and Mind-set shifts through sustained interventions I currently lead Organization Effectiveness Function for Aditya Birla Group, a $44.3 billion conglomerate with 120000 employees across 35 countries. I sincerely hope that you will enjoy reading my blog. I look forward to your thoughts and suggestions. Thank you!

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