Happiness Break: A Meditation to Inspire Awe in the New Year

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 9 January 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A meditation to cultivate a sense of awe by focusing on new beginnings -- whether it’s a budding plant, a new friendship, or a recent moment of wonder.

How to Do This Practice:

Find a quiet, comfortable space. Sit or lie down, close your eyes if you wish, and take deep breaths to center yourself.
Bring your awareness to the present moment—notice your breath, body sensations, and surroundings without judgment.
Reflect on new beginnings in your life. Picture meeting someone new and feeling curiosity about their stories, recall a moment of awe, like hearing a piece of music that moved you, imagine the growth of a budding plant, reaching for the light.
Focus on a recent moment of awe that touched you. Notice how it feels in your body and let the sensations linger.
When ready, gently open your eyes and carry this renewed sense of wonder into your day.

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

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

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Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/3pdp8nky

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Dachr Keltner. Welcome to Happiness Break, where we pause for a moment in our busy days to find calm, to experience a sense of wonder, and to connect with all that makes life meaningful.
0:16.5	Today, as we enter a new year, I'll be guiding us in a meditation designed to nurture awe
0:23.3	in the newness around us, whether it's a new friendship, the budding of a plant, first light
0:29.4	of the morning, or any other opening experience life presents us with.
0:35.6	My lab's research at UC Berkeley shows moments of awe can really shift how we
0:41.0	think, opening our minds to how we are connected to something larger than ourselves, and revealing to us
0:49.3	the extraordinary in the ordinary. As we experience awe, that which is vast and mysterious
0:57.0	opens our bodies up like an antenna to the world, which you will feel in tears, the chills,
1:04.0	a lump in the throat, and perhaps warming of the chest, sensations that arise when your
1:10.0	vagus nerve is activated and oxytocin released.
1:13.6	Aw can also lead to more generosity, kindness, and curiosity, and a better health profile,
1:19.6	making it, as Einstein and Rachel Carson said, the most human emotion vital to flourishing. These moments of newness invite us to open our hearts and our minds,
1:32.3	offering fresh perspectives and a renewed sense of wonder about our lives.
1:38.3	Let's now transition into a meditation to cultivate a sense of awe.
1:53.0	Begin by finding a comfortable and safe position,
1:56.0	sitting or lying down and gently closing your eyes.
2:02.8	Take a deep breath in, feeling the air fill your lungs, and slowly exhale, releasing
2:11.4	any tension you might be holding.
2:15.1	Let's take a few more deep breaths, allowing each exhale to relax your body a little more.
2:24.3	Bring your awareness to the present moment.
2:30.3	There's no need to change anything. Just notice the sensations in your body.
2:38.0	The rhythm of your breath, the sounds around you.
	...

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