How Parks Keep Us Connected

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 3 July 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From childhood adventures to post-trauma recovery, explore how our parks support our well-being— and why access to them matters.

Summary: Nature has long been a source of wonder, healing, and connection. But access to those green spaces—from neighborhood parks to national treasures—are increasingly at risk. In this episode of The Science of Happiness, we hear how awe-inspiring outdoor experiences can help us feel more alive and less alone, and what we can do to protect those spaces.

How To Do This Practice:

Step outside with intention, even if it’s just to your backyard, a nearby park, or a patch of grass.
Pause and take a few deep breaths to ground yourself and shift your attention from doing to simply being.
Notice the details around you. The movement of leaves, the pattern of clouds, the sound of birds or distant traffic.
Look for something that surprises or moves you, no matter how small, like a weed blooming through concrete or shifting light on a tree.
Let yourself feel whatever arises, whether it’s wonder, calm, grief, or joy—there’s no right way to experience awe.
Before you return indoors, take a moment to reflect on what you saw or felt, and how it might shift your day or perspective.

Scroll down for a transcription of this episode.

Today’s Guests:

STACY BARE is a climber, mountaineer, and skier. Climbing helped Stacy recover from PTSD from a year in Baghdad as a Civil Affairs Team Leader in the Army. He is the recipient of the Bronze Star for merit and a combat action badge and named one of National Geographic’s Adventurers of the Year for 2014.

Follow Stacy on Instagram: @stacyabare

Add Stacy on Linkedin: https://tinyurl.com/49zazw8f

Related The Science of Happiness episodes:

The Healing Effects of Experiencing Wildlife: https://tinyurl.com/bde5av4z

How to Do Good for the Environment (And Yourself): https://tinyurl.com/5b26zwkx

Experience Nature Wherever You Are, with Dacher: https://tinyurl.com/mrutudeh

Related Happiness Breaks:

How To Ground Yourself in Nature: https://tinyurl.com/25ftdxpm

Pause to Look at the Sky: https://tinyurl.com/4jttkbw3

A Walking Meditation: https://tinyurl.com/mwbsen7a

Tell us about your experience with this practice. Email us at [email protected] or follow on Instagram @HappinessPod.

Help us share The Science of Happiness! Leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and share this link with someone who might like the show: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Transcription: https://tinyurl.com/3fv7695k

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	What drew you to nature as a child?
0:04.0	What drew me to nature as a child, I think, was the same thing that drew a lot of kids that were born in the 70s and 80s, right, who were analog.
0:11.0	And that was your mom telling you to get out of the house after lunch and you could come back home at five.
0:17.0	I grew up in a very small town in eastern South Dakota Brookings, and I didn't have a watch.
0:22.6	We just ran around.
0:24.6	We ran around other people's backyards.
0:26.6	We ran around parks.
0:27.6	There was a grove of trees.
0:29.6	And beyond that was just cornfields.
0:31.6	And I think that background is why when I came home from Iraq in 2007 I reintroduced and committed
0:38.4	myself to time outdoors I had a somatic experience on the top of a rock climb and
0:43.4	that's when I was like okay this is it this is where I need to be spending my time
0:47.7	and my energy welcome to the Science of Happiness.
0:57.0	I'm Dacher Kelpner.
0:58.0	Over the past 20 years, I've studied the science of awe, how it brings us closer to others,
1:03.0	humbles our sense of self, and calms the nervous system.
1:07.0	And one of the most reliable ways to experience awe is through nature. So this week,
1:12.6	we're exploring the many ways public parks, from national treasures to local green spaces,
1:19.6	support our health and strengthen our communities. We'll also look at what's at risk with budget cuts
1:25.6	and land sell-off proposals and what we can do to protect these
1:29.9	vital places. More after this message from our sponsors.
1:39.6	How much awe and wonder do you experience in your life? From the John Templeton Foundation, our sponsors at the Science of Happiness,
	...

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