Finding Delight Through Your 5 Senses
The Science of Happiness
PRX and Greater Good Science Center
4.4 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 6 July 2023
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We enjoy the world through our five senses, so why don't we do more to heighten them? We explore the techniques and science of the senses with Gretchen Rubin.
Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/4s3wv9mv
Episode summary:
When Gretchen Rubin found out she was at greater risk of losing her eyesight, she started to recognize what she had been taking for granted and her appreciation for sight — and the rest of her senses — was reignited. Since then, Gretchen has been committed to discovering how our five senses shape and enhance our experiences of the world. Like how certain odors can trigger good memories and how our sense of touch stimulates the vagus nerve, which has a calming effect on our brains and bodies. We explore techniques to enhance each of our senses, and the science behind how they contribute to our well-being.
Today’s guest:
Gretchen Rubin is an acclaimed journalist and author.
Read Gretchen’s latest book book, Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World: https://gretchenrubin.com/books/life-in-five-senses/
Follow Gretchen on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gretchenrubin/
Follow Gretchen on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GretchenRubin
Follow Gretchen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/gretchenrubin
Resources from The Greater Good Science Center:
Happiness Break: Finding Presence Through Your Senses, With Dacher Keltner (The Science of Happiness Podcast): https://tinyurl.com/y63mphep
How to Gain Freedom from Your Thoughts: https://tinyurl.com/hp8s5wv6
10 Steps to Savoring the Good Things in Life: https://tinyurl.com/y9636sku
Why Physical Touch Matters for Your Well-Being: https://tinyurl.com/m2ea524m
How to Deal with Sensory Overload as a Sensitive Person: https://tinyurl.com/y7epvsmu
More Resources on Your 5 Senses:
Scientific American - Making Sense of the World, Several Senses at a Time: https://tinyurl.com/34djh4p4
BBC - Hacking our senses to boost learning power: https://tinyurl.com/y7e8f89c
TED - How your sense of smell helps you savor flavor: https://tinyurl.com/2yx5n5pm
Washington Post - Why music causes memories to flood back: https://tinyurl.com/2s47stkk
We want to hear from you! How does your favorite sense enhance your life? Email us at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.
Help us share The Science of Happiness!
Rate us on Spotify and share this link with someone who might like the show: https://tinyurl.com/4uyr2w35
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | so out of the five senses which is your favorite that's a hard one if I had to |
| 0:07.7 | pick I would say smell I would say it's a hard toss up between taste and smell |
| 0:14.1 | my favorite sense is touch my favorite sense is sight like warm summer night when |
| 0:21.2 | I saw my kid for the first time when she was born I love looking at the world I |
| 0:26.6 | love color when you think of taste you think of culture you think of |
| 0:30.7 | experiences I feel like hearing as it walked these strong emotional responses |
| 0:36.5 | within me all of them did all of my experiences come from my senses I went to the |
| 0:42.9 | eye doctor and as I was walking out my eye doctor said to me well you know |
| 0:47.5 | you're at greater risk for losing your vision and I was like wait what so I |
| 0:53.4 | was walking home from the eye doctor and it was like every knob in my brain was |
| 0:57.2 | jammed up to maximum and I could hear everything and smell everything and feel |
| 1:01.8 | everything and see everything and I thought this is around me all the time and I |
| 1:07.0 | just have been taking it for granted and this experience showed me I was |
| 1:11.0 | stuck in my head and I needed to get back out into engaging with the world and |
| 1:15.4 | other people and myself through my five senses welcome to the science of |
| 1:27.0 | happiness I'm Dacker Keltner today we're paying homage to the senses taste |
| 1:32.0 | touch smell sight and sound we don't focus much on the senses in the field |
| 1:37.2 | of positive psychology but intuitively we know how important they are how much |
| 1:42.1 | delight and meaning our senses bring to us and the literature backs that up |
| 1:46.9 | studies find for example that odors can be particularly powerful keys to |
| 1:51.6 | unlocking meaningful memories that beautiful visual sites can bring us awe and |
| 1:56.3 | reduce focus on herself music that wonderful conveyor of sounds can have all |
... |
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