Happiness Break: Visualizing Your Purpose, with Dacher Keltner

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 April 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How to Do This Practice:

Find a comfortable place to do this practice. Once you feel ready, relax your shoulders and close your eyes. Focus on your breathing, and take a few slow, deep breaths.
Think about the world around you. If you could change one thing in society, what would it be?
Imagine this ideal world. Visualize it manifesting before you. Notice what you see and how you feel in as much detail as possible.
Is there anything that you can do to make this a reality? It can be anything, no matter how small. Think of some manageable steps you can take to get a little closer to what you’ve imagined.
Return your focus to your breathing to close out this practice.
If you have the time, jot down your thoughts and goals.

Today’s Happiness Break host:

Dacher Keltner is the host of the Greater Good Science Center’s award-winning podcast, The Science of Happiness and is a co-instructor of the GGSC’s popular online course of the same name. He’s also the founding director of the Greater Good Science Center and a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Check out Dacher’s most recent book, *Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life: *<https://tinyurl.com/4j4hcvyt](https://tinyurl.com/4j4hcvyt)

Find the full practice at our Greater Good in Action website:

https://ggia.berkeley.edu/practice/magic_wand

More resources from The Greater Good Science Center:

How to Find Purpose in Your Life: https://tinyurl.com/yc4dd5ff

Living with Purpose Changes Everything: https://tinyurl.com/m28uvsjn

The Purpose Challenge: https://tinyurl.com/53zykj8a

How Strong is Your Sense of Purpose in Life? https://tinyurl.com/2r3yr3hr

Purpose in Life Quiz: https://tinyurl.com/mrxys77h

We love hearing from you! Tell us about your experience of finding purpose. Email us at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

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

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

We're living through a mental health crisis. Between the stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness, burnout — we all could use a break to feel better. That's where Happiness Break comes in. In each biweekly podcast episode, instructors guide you through research-backed practices and meditations that you can do in real-time. These relaxing and uplifting practices have been shown in a lab to help you cultivate calm, compassion, connection, mindfulness, and more — what the latest science says will directly support your well-being. All in less than ten minutes. A little break in your day.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I am Dacquer Keltner. This is Happiness Break, a series by the Science of Happiness, where
0:09.0	we share short guided practices to help us develop more calm, kindness, connection, and
0:15.0	resilience to stress. Today's Happiness Break is an invitation to find purpose by imagining
0:21.8	a better world. Together we're going to conjure up goals aimed at improving society. By
0:28.1	thinking about our greater sense of purpose, studies show we create stronger social connections
0:33.1	and are more satisfied in our romantic relationships. We also tend to be more physically active and sleep
0:39.4	better. Purpose is powerful. So let's start by exploring purpose by considering the world around
0:48.4	us and visualizing how it can be better. I recommend grabbing a pen and paper to jot down
0:54.7	some of your reflections afterward. It's always good to write about our experiences with these practices.
1:04.7	When you're ready, let's begin.
1:11.7	So let's get into a deepened pattern of breathing. Let's find a nice posture, whether you're
1:17.7	sitting or lying down or standing and relax your shoulders, relax your body and close your eyes
1:27.7	and just notice how you feel. Let's take a nice deep breath in expanding your ribcage in your chest
1:36.7	counting before. As you breathe out, follow the air through your lungs, your throat and your
1:45.7	nose counting before.
1:53.7	Another nice deep breath in expanding your belly and your chest filling your lungs full of air.
2:04.7	As you breathe out, just notice the relaxation settling in your face and your shoulders and your neck.
2:16.7	One more breath in and breathing out.
2:30.7	Now think about the world you live in. This includes your home, your community of friends,
2:36.7	your family, your work colleagues. Bring some images to mind.
2:45.7	Now expand that to your neighborhood, your nation, your continent and now try to think of the world at large.
2:56.7	I'll 8 billion of us plus the billions and billions of trees, plants, wildlife, insects, flora and fauna and animals.
	...

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