Happiness Break: A Meditation For When You Have Too Much To Do

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2025

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Does your to-do list feel endless? Try this short, guided practice to help you reflect, reconnect, and release the pressure to do it all perfectly.

How To Do This Practice:

Find a Comfortable Posture: Sit or stand tall with a sense of dignity, grounded, yet relaxed.
Take Three Cleansing Breaths: Inhale twice through the nose, then exhale slowly through the mouth. Repeat this three times to settle into the moment.
Scan Your Body from Head to Toe: Gently bring your attention to each part of your body, noticing sensations and letting go of any tension as you move downward.
Visualize Your To-Do List as Floating Bubbles: Imagine each task as a bubble above you. Observe them without judgment, simply noticing their presence.
Ask Reflective Questions: Is it the number of tasks that’s overwhelming, or is it fear of forgetting, failing, or letting someone down? What’s truly fueling your stress?
Recenter with Gratitude and Self-Compassion: Acknowledge that being needed is a form of purpose. Remind yourself that even if not everything gets done, you are still enough and already whole.

Scroll down for a transcription of this episode.

Explore more talks, workshops, and resources atggsc.berkeley.edu/speaking.

Today’s Happiness Break Guide:

KIA AFCARI is the director of Greater Good Workplaces at GGSC. Kia grounds his work in the science of well-being, prosociality, and contemplative practices and uses creative methods like “instant dance parties” and Boal-informed theater techniques to achieve results.

Watch Kia’s TED Talk on reshaping diversity, equity, and inclusion here: https://tinyurl.com/483tdjp5

Related Happiness Break episodes:

Making Space For You: https://tinyurl.com/yk6nfnfv

Make Uncertainty Part of the Process: https://tinyurl.com/234u5ds7

Who Takes Care of You: https://tinyurl.com/5xmfkf73

Related Science of Happiness episodes:

Are You Following Your Inner Compass: https://tinyurl.com/y2bh8vvj

How Holding Yourself Can Reduce Stress: https://tinyurl.com/2hvhkwe6

How To Show Up For Yourself: https://tinyurl.com/56ktb9xc

Follow us on Instagram: @ScienceOfHappinessPod

We’d love to hear about your experience with this practice! Share your thoughts at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Find us on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Help us share Happiness Break! Leave a 5-star review and share this link: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Transcription: https://tinyurl.com/5dvk3d7m

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Dacher Keltner, welcome to Happiness Break, where we take a minute to reconnect with
0:07.4	ourselves and the world around us.
0:11.1	Many of us feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of tasks, meetings, messages, and expectations
0:17.7	at work.
0:19.5	But research tells us that it's not always the workload itself that
0:23.1	leads to overwhelm. It's how we relate to it. When we feel we have no control or space to pause,
0:30.7	our stress response ramps up, reducing our clarity and creativity. Today, we're reflecting on
0:37.3	happiness in the workplace
0:38.8	with Kia Afkari, the director of Greater Good Workplaces
0:42.5	here at UC Berkeley.
0:44.1	He begins with a simple but powerful question.
0:47.3	Is there anything inherently overwhelming
0:50.2	about having too much to do?
0:52.9	Here's Kia. Hi, I'm Kia.
1:01.0	I'm Kia Fkari.
1:04.0	When you're ready, take a moment to make yourself comfortable in your chair,
1:09.0	sitting in a way that is tall and with a sense of dignity.
1:13.6	If you're standing, stand tall.
1:17.6	Let's take three deep breaths together, starting with two short inhales and one long exhale.
1:25.6	Breathing in.
1:30.1	Breathing in again.
1:33.0	Then long exhale.
	...

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