July 14, 2022

Happiness Break: Experience Nature Wherever You Are, with Dacher Keltner

7 minutes

Just a few moments of tuning into nature can make you feel more inspired, connected, and less lonely. Let us guide you through a five-minute noticing nature practice — you don't even have to leave the city.

Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/ac4h4uc4

How to Do This Practice:

Pause and take notice of the natural elements around you, like trees, clouds, leaves, moving water, animals, bugs and butterflies, etc. Take a moment to allow yourself to truly experience the nature around you, and notice what emotions this evokes.

When you encounter something that moves you in some way, take a mental photo of it. In a few words or sentences, jot down a brief description of what caught your attention and how it made you feel.

Try to repeat this every day for at least two weeks.

Remember: The key is your experience with what you are noticing—how nature makes you feel.

Find the full Noticing Nature practice at our Greater Good in Action website: https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/noticing_nature

More resources from UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center:

Four Ways Nature Can Protect Your Well-Being During a Pandemic: https://tinyurl.com/98t8p7r5

What Happens When We Reconnect With Nature: https://tinyurl.com/4jef7r82

How Nature Can Make You Kinder, Happier, and More Creative: https://tinyurl.com/2s95n6ps

Six Ways Nature Helps Children Learn: https://tinyurl.com/5t2tnv3p

Why Is Nature So Good For Your Mental Health? https://tinyurl.com/nj7kpn28

How Nature Helps Us Heal: https://tinyurl.com/2kea52n9

Listen to The Science of Happiness episode featuring NYT restaurant critic Tejal Rao trying the Noticing Nature practice: https://tinyurl.com/yckkte9w

Tell us about your experiences noticing nature by emailing us at [email protected] or using the hashtag #happinesspod.

Find us on Amazon Music: https://tinyurl.com/28hcdfsd

Help us share Happiness Break!

Leave us a 5-star review and copy and share this link: pod.link/1340505607

We're living through a mental health crisis. Between the stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness, burnout — we all could use a break to feel better. That's where Happiness Break comes in. In each biweekly podcast episode, instructors guide you through research-backed practices and meditations that you can do in real-time. These relaxing and uplifting practices have been shown in a lab to help you cultivate calm, compassion, connection, mindfulness, and more — what the latest science says will directly support your well-being. All in less than ten minutes. A little break in your day.

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By PRX and Greater Good Science Center

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