I'm Dacker Keltner. This is Happiness Break, a series by the science of

happiness where we share short guided practices to help us develop more

calm kindness connection and resilience to stress.

Welcome.

This week we're just going to take a break to get out of our heads and focus on the light, shape, and lines of some object nearby and render it somehow on paper.

Even if you don't think you've got any talent, doing something creative like drawing, painting, or crafting can help us find flow where we can get absorbed in what we're doing and break out of the ruminative thought patterns we might be stuck in.

It can also unlock our imagination, spurring new ideas, and allowing us to connect the dots of

our thoughts in ways we might not have otherwise.

Guiding us today is meditation teacher and artist Chris Merkison.

So grab a piece of paper and something to draw with.

Here's Chris.

Welcome, it's wonderful to be with you here today.

Let's begin by taking a few mindful breaths,

so I invite you to close your eyes or avert your glance for a moment.

And as you breathe, bring your attention to this moment and to any thoughts passing through your mind, any feelings or emotions that might arise, and also to your body. Please open your eyes and

your eyes and take a few moments to allow your mind and your eyes to travel around the space that you see surrounding you? What do you notice? What textures, colors, light, and shadows, interesting or odd shapes, relationships between those things. what memories might be evoked by what you see, what emotions called forth, what questions might your space be evoking or answers?

What marvels do you see in your environment?

Let's give you a moment to take all of that in, let your eyes wander around your eyes eyes, As your eyes travel the space around you, what is one particular thing that captures your pen and paper and for the next two minutes make a drawing of that object that captures your attention.

Put yourself critic aside, if it appears, this is a drawing just for you,

and this is not an art competition.

So for the next two minutes, just try to draw the object that captures your attention for two minutes. Oh, Play with shapes, lines, shading, however you want to capture this object. Oh, Again if that self-critic emerges, just put them aside, pat them on the back and put them aside.

Have fun with this. I'm going to I have about 15 seconds left. Put your pens down and just take a moment to appreciate what you've just drawn.

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