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

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 30 May 2024

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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/ytakaaep

How 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 one

How to Find Your Best Possible Self
https://tinyurl.com/6t3uws8d

Happiness Break: Visualizing Your Best Self in Relationships, With Dacher Keltner
https://tinyurl.com/5cx6cd5z

Happiness Break: Visualizing Your Purpose, With Dacher
https://tinyurl.com/39apt7tb

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!

Transcript

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0:00.0	In the future, I'm not going to worry about the future. My future self will be so content in moment and knowing that everything is okay.
0:17.0	A few years ago, comedian Margaret Cho tried to practice for us on the signs of happiness.
0:24.7	She imagined her best possible future self.
0:28.0	My future self will be free from worry from concern for plotting I have everything that everything's already here.
0:37.0	Today Today we're going to take a short break together and try and envision our best
0:48.6	selves like a lunch break or a break, but a happiness break.
0:54.4	I'm Dacker Keltner.
0:55.8	Welcome to happiness break, a series by the science of happiness.
1:00.4	On each episode we guide you through research-backed practices to bring more happiness into your life,
1:05.0	and then we learn about the science behind each exercise,
1:08.0	and we guide you through it, all in under 10 minutes.
1:12.0	Today, Justin Michael Williams, a dear colleague of mine who's a mindfulness teacher and
1:17.1	amazing musician, is going to lead us in a happiness break where we're going to visualize
1:22.4	our best possible selves.
1:24.9	The literature shows that spending time thinking about and writing about our best
1:29.0	selves can motivate us to work towards our goals and make us happier in the present moment right now.
1:35.8	Ken Sheldon at the University of Missouri and Sonia Lobermersky at UC Riverside and Madeline
1:40.4	Peter at Maestricht University have all done work showing this simple
1:44.4	break of imagining our best possible selves in the future elevates our well-being
1:49.1	for some time, increases our social connection, and even can reduce levels of cortisol in our bloodstream, which is the stress hormone.
1:56.0	This practice gives us a sense of agency as we move forward in life.
2:01.0	After the practice, if you can, I'd really recommend that you write down what you
	...

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