What happens when we feel compassion for the things that scare us? Shabazz Larkin shares what it's like to face some of his deepest fears.

Link to Episode Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/yp7r8fwu

When It's Time to Face Your Fears

Learn research-tested strategies for a happier, more meaningful life, drawing on the science of compassion, gratitude, mindfulness, and awe. Hosted by award-winning psychologist Dacher Keltner. Co-produced by PRX and UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center.

Social Sciences

Science & Medicine

Science

Here's a favorite of ours: visualize your best possible self and tap into your inherent enough-ness with this guided meditation by Justin Michael Williams.Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/ytakaaepHow to Do This Practice:
Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and visualize your ideal future self, the person of your dreams you’ve always wanted to be. Try noticing as many details as you can: What color are you wearing, how do you feel, what are you doing, is anyone with you?
Answer this question in your mind with 1-3 words: As you look at this future version of you, what energy do you need to cultivate more of in your life now, today, to become closer to being that person you see in your vision? 
Breathe in deeply, and as you do imagine yourself breathing in that energy. As you exhale, imagine that energy spreading throughout your body and energy field.
Open your eyes. ​​Remember, you have what you need to become that which you want to become. We are enough to start stepping into the life of our dreams.
Today’s Happiness Break host:Justin Michael Williams works at the intersection of social justice, mindfulness, and personal growth — with a touch of music that brings it all to life.
Learn More About Justin’s work: https://www.justinmichaelwilliams.com/

Listen to Justin’s debut album: https://www.justinmichaelwilliams.com/music

Order Justin’s book, Stay Woke: A Meditation Guide For the Rest of Us:https://tinyurl.com/2p8xu6hx
Follow Justin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/wejustwill

Follow Justin on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wejustwill/

More episodes like this oneHow to Find Your Best Possible Selfhttps://tinyurl.com/6t3uws8dHappiness Break: Visualizing Your Best Self in Relationships,  With Dacher Keltnerhttps://tinyurl.com/5cx6cd5zHappiness Break: Visualizing Your Purpose, With Dacherhttps://tinyurl.com/39apt7tbWe love hearing from you! Tell us what brings you feelings of awe. Email us at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.Find us on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/6s39rzusHelp us share Happiness Break!

Happiness Break: A Meditation on How To Be Your Best Self, with Justin Michael Williams

She's the world's leading animal behaviorist and an autism advocacy leader. Guest Temple Grandin shares what kind of support systems led her to success, and we hear about how community, and lack thereof, affects our health and ability to succeed.
Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/y82vw4dv
Episode summary:Having strong relationships is vital to our well-being. We tend to be happier and healthier when we’re involved with community. Today’s guest is the world-famous scientist Temple Grandin. She was born with autism, which led her to be socially isolated from her peers. Join us on this episode of The Science of Happiness to hear about how Grandin credits her support networks for her success and making her into the person she is today. We’ll also look at the science behind the health repercussions of not having strong social networks. Feeling socially disconnected can lead to a higher risk of dementia, cardiovascular disease, cancer and more.
Today’s guests:Temple Grandin is a leading scientist, prominent author and speaker on autism and animal behaviors. Today, she teaches courses at Colorado State University. Her latest book is Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions.Temple’s Website: https://www.templegrandin.comFollow Temple on Twitter: https://twitter.com/drtemplegrandin?lang=enCheck out Temple’s Latest Book: https://tinyurl.com/3tftxpckTegan Cruwyis is a clinical psychologist at The National Australian University who studies social connection and how loneliness and chronic isolation are literally toxic.Learn more about Cruwyis and her work: https://tinyurl.com/3etuvketFollow Cruwyis on Google Scholar: https://tinyurl.com/yc5ujhajResources from The Greater Good Science Center:
Four Ways Social Support Makes You More Resilient https://tinyurl.com/34ntce8uWhat is Social Connection? https://tinyurl.com/nk8crbbzIs Social Connection the Best Path to Happiness? https://tinyurl.com/4wxc66tnWhy are We so Wired to Connect? https://tinyurl.com/uttppd3pTell us about your experiences with building social connections. Email us at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.Help us share The Science of Happiness!Leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or share this link with someone who might like the show: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aapTranscript to come.

Encore: Why We Need Friends With Shared Interests

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/3e9cyky5Practice:
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. 
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.
Now cast your gaze over the space around you. Take in what you see in the scene in front of you.
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.
Notice the variations and differences in the various colors in your visual field. 
What feelings do the colors evoke in you? 
Now, gently close and then open your eyes and notice how you feel. 
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 Togetherhttps://tinyurl.com/bdhy4sj5How Music Evokes Awehttps://tinyurl.com/mpkww4j9Happiness Break: Awe for Others, With Dacherhttps://tinyurl.com/3ptwh66jFeeling the Awe of Nature from Anywhere, with Dacher Keltnerhttps://tinyurl.com/4r7rjaxfWe love hearing from you! Tell us what brings you feelings of awe. Email us at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.Find us on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/6s39rzusHelp 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/2p9h5aapRate us on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/6s39rzus

Happiness Break: A Meditation on Cultivating Awe Through Colors

Hearing birdsong can help us feel less anxious, recover from stress faster, and even reduce muscle tension ... but can it help us fall asleep? Drew Ackerman of Sleep With Me podcast listens to recordings of birdsongs to see if it'll help with insomnia.

Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/5n7sxjtb



Episode summary:

Drew Ackerman, aka Scooter of Sleep With Me Podcast, has always struggled to get to sleep. Even as an anxious kid, worries would keep his mind churning as the night wore on. For our show, he tried a science-backed practice for easing stress: listening to the twitter of birds. He discovered the recordings reminded him of easeful summer afternoons, transporting him to another time and place. The research bears this out: different sounds affect us in different ways. For many, birdsong lowers our body’s stress responses. And for Drew, that helped him get a little sleepier.

Practice:


Listen to a recording of birdsong that appeals to you.


Today’s guests:

Drew Ackerman You might know Drew as his alias, “Dearest Scooter,” the host of Sleep with Me podcast. Drew struggles with bedtime worries and has a history of insomnia himself, but he’s great at helping others sleep. Sleep with Me is one of the most listened-to sleep podcasts. On each episode, “Scooter” lulls listeners off to dreamland with meandering bedtime stories intended to lose your interest.

Listen to Sleep With Me Podcast: https://pod.link/sleep-with-me


Follow Drew on Twitter: https://tinyurl.com/2p8nrhnp
Follow Drew on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dearestscooter/
Follow Drew on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sleepwithmepodcast/


Emil Stobbe is a post-doctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Germany.

Jesper Alvarsson is a professor of Psychology at Södertörn University in Sweden.

Eleanor Ratcliffe is a professor of Environmental Psychology at the University of Surrey in the UK.

More episodes like this one:

The Science of a Good Night's Sleep (Sleep Tips, With Drew Ackerman) - https://tinyurl.com/3wrwzrxy

Why You Should Snap Pictures of Nature (Appreciating The Outdoors, With Tejal Rao) - https://tinyurl.com/erwdvwrw

Related Happiness Breaks (a short, guided practice by The Science of Happiness)

Restore Through Silence, With Tricia Hersey - https://tinyurl.com/4h8ww8ub

Feeling the Awe of Nature from Anywhere, With Dacher Keltner - https://tinyurl.com/43v74ryn

Tell us what sounds relax you! You can even send us a recording, we’d love to hear it. Email us at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Help us share The Science of Happiness!

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

How Birdsong Can Help Your Mental Health

Pilina is an indigenous Hawaiian word, or concept, that describes our deep interconnectedness. Harvard Clinical Psychology Fellow Jo Qina'au guides us through a contemplation of our profound interrelationships.

Link to Episode Transcript: https://shorturl.at/npAM9

How to Do This Practice:

Pilina comes from the indigenous Hawaiian language and culture. Pilina means connection, or interconnectedness.


Settle into a comfortable position and observe your breath.
Visualize someone to whom you feel meaningfully connected and acknowledge the feeling of Pilina, or deep interconnectedness, between you two.
Reflect on what it is that connects you, what impact that connection has had on your life, and what it may have had on theirs.
Notice how it feels to acknowledge these things.
Repeat steps 2-4 with as many people as you wish.


Today’s Happiness Break host:

Jo Qina’au is an indigenous Hawaiian meditation teacher and a Clinical Psychology Fellow at Harvard Medical School.


Learn more about Jo’s work: https://tinyurl.com/2wfcma5f
Follow Jo on Instagram: https://tinyurl.com/3v8ubn6a


If you enjoyed this Happiness Break, you may also like these Happiness Breaks:


5 Minutes of Progressive Muscle Relaxation, With Jo Qina’au - https://tinyurl.com/4f3fd97f
Visualizing Your Best Self in Relationships, With Dacher Keltner - https://tinyurl.com/4dzpatx7


Check out these episodes of The Science of Happiness about connection:


How to Feel Less Lonely and More Connected - https://tinyurl.com/36t6urte
When It's Hard To Connect, Try Being Curious - https://tinyurl.com/3778r4h9


We love hearing from you! Tell us who you feel Pilina with, and what it means to you to reflect on it. Email us at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

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

Help us share Happiness Break! Rate us and copy and share this link: https://tinyurl.com/6s39rzus

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 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.

When It's Time to Face Your Fears

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