The Science of Happiness

Happiness Break: A Meditation on Cultivating Awe Through Colors

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Experiencing awe can help us slow down and connect to the world around us. So how can we harness the power of this feeling? Host Dacher Keltner leads us in a colorful meditation to bring about awe. 

Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/3e9cyky5

Practice:

  1. Please find a space, either inside or outside, where you can take a moment and pause and look slowly at a scene in front of you. 
  2. Settle into a pattern of deep breathing and ease. Really focusing on how that pattern of inhalation and exhalation relaxes your body and slows your heart rate down.
  3. Now cast your gaze over the space around you. Take in what you see in the scene in front of you.
  4. You may shift your attention to colors present in the things around you or step back and get a sense of the scene in a more holistic way.
  5. Notice the variations and differences in the various colors in your visual field. 
  6. What feelings do the colors evoke in you? 
  7. Now, gently close and then open your eyes and notice how you feel. 

    8. Today’s guests:
    Dacher Keltner is the host of the Greater Good Science Center’s award-winning podcast, The Science of Happiness and is a co-instructor of the GGSC’s popular online course of the same name. He’s also the founding director of the Greater Good Science Center and a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.

    More episodes like this one:

    How Awe Brings Us Together

    https://tinyurl.com/bdhy4sj5

    How Music Evokes Awe

    https://tinyurl.com/mpkww4j9

    Happiness Break: Awe for Others, With Dacher

    https://tinyurl.com/3ptwh66j

    Feeling the Awe of Nature from Anywhere, with Dacher Keltner

    https://tinyurl.com/4r7rjaxf

    We love hearing from you! Tell us what brings you feelings of awe. Email us at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

    Find us on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/6s39rzus

    Help us share Happiness Break!
    Leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and share this link with someone who might like the show: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

    Rate us on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/6s39rzus

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