Listen To This If Your Life Feels "Meh" (A Simple Science-Backed Fix)

The Liz Moody Podcast

Liz Moody

Self-improvement, Education, Mental Health, Health & Fitness

4.9 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2026

⏱️ 86 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

My team is on our first ever retreat this week! I wanted to practice what I preach and give everyone the chance to relax and restore in Arizona, so this week, I hand picked one of my all-time favorite episodes to share with you. If you care about feeling good, about happiness, this episode is gonna change your life—I recorded it over a year ago and I still talk about it weekly. Also, it’ll make you feel good while listening. Enjoy, and see you next week for a fresh new episode! - xo Liz You've probably heard that you should spend more time in nature, practice gratitude, or meditate—but you may not know that one single emotion underlies the benefits of all of those things. Today, we're talking about awe: what it actually is, why the science says it might be the most important emotion you're not prioritizing, and exactly how to build more of it into your life starting today. I'm joined by Dr. Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology at UC Berkeley, founder of the Greater Good Science Center, and the world's leading researcher on awe. He's also the scientist behind the emotions in Pixar's Inside Out and Inside Out 2. Over 15 years of research, Dacher has studied awe across 26 countries, gathered over 2,600 stories of awe from around the world, and built a growing body of evidence showing that this one emotion can reduce anxiety, lower inflammation, ease chronic pain, combat loneliness, and even help with PTSD, sometimes more powerfully than pharmaceuticals. The best part? You don't need a trip to the Grand Canyon to find it. Awe is closer than you think. 🎧 What you'll learn: • Why three minutes of awe a few times a week can measurably change your physical and mental health • The surprising sign that tells you you're actually experiencing awe (and how to know it's not just fear or beauty) • How the eight universal sources of awe can act as a personal compass pointing you toward your life's meaning • The one mindset shift that lets you find awe without going anywhere new • Why grief and trauma can actually be gateways to awe, and how to use that to feel better stat • The unexpected connection between awe and psychedelics (and how to get similar benefits without either) • How religion is immensely helpful for awe, and how to build a secular version • The "awe prescription" Dacher recommends based on the latest research • The micro habit that helped healthcare workers fight depression and burnout during COVID in just one minute a day Check out the previous episodes of The Liz Moody Podcast discussed today: The Secret To Happiness, From The World’s Longest Study With Dr. Robert Waldinger For more from Dacher Keltner: • Book: Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life • Podcast: The Science of Happiness Order Liz’s book 100 Ways to Change Your Life: The Science of Leveling Up Health, Happiness, Relationships & Success now! Connect with Liz on Instagram @lizmoody or at www.lizmoody.com. Subscribe to the substack https://lizmoody.substack.com/welcome. Check out https://shop.lizmoody.com/. This episode is brought to you completely free thanks to the following podcast sponsors: • Timeline: visit Timeline.com/Liz to save up to 39% off. • Evlo: go to EvloFitness.com and use code LIZ to get 6 weeks free today. • Lumebox: right now get 40% off, that's $260 off the regular price of $629, when you go to TheLumeBox.com/Liz. • Wildgrain: go to Wildgrain.com/LizMoody to get $30 off your first box + FREE croissants for LIFE. The Liz Moody Podcast cover art by Zack. The Liz Moody Podcast music by Alex Ruimy. This podcast and website represents the opinions of Liz Moody and her guests to the show. The content here should not be taken as medical advice. The content here is for information purposes only, and because each person is so unique, please consult your healthcare professional for any medical questions. The Liz Moody Podcast Episode 426. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Dacker, welcome to the podcast. I was just telling you how excited I am to have you here. I've never had a former professor of mine on.
0:06.3	It's good to be with you, Liz. Has your research around awe made you not afraid of death?
0:11.3	No doubt. Aw becomes this powerful ingredient for trauma reduction.
0:15.8	I'll find it energy giving to connect with somebody. The initial hump feels hard. So instead I scroll on my phone
0:22.1	and retreat into myself. Yeah. How do I break through that blockage? Essentially, what
0:27.2	fills us with awe can point us in the direction of what will fill us with a sense of meaning
0:31.8	and purpose. Aw gets you to meaning. The bigger challenge is to figure out your whole life context of awe and go get it.
0:39.8	Hello, friends, and welcome to the Liz Moody podcast where every week we are sharing real science,
0:44.9	real stories, and realistic tools that actually level up every part of your life.
0:49.4	I'm your host, Liz Moody, and I'm a best-selling author and longtime journalist.
0:53.5	And today I'm joined by Dr.
0:55.0	Dacher, who is actually one of my professors back when I went to UC Berkeley. So this entire
1:01.1	episode is a really crazy full circle moment for me. Dacher is one of the world's leading emotion
1:06.6	scientists. He is a psychology professor at Berkeley still to this day. He's the director of the
1:11.8	Greater Good Science Center. And he's authored over 200, 200 scientific publications and six
1:17.8	books. The man is prolific. And are you ready for this? This is about the coolest thing that I
1:23.5	have ever heard personally. He was one of these scientific advisors for both Inside Out movies.
1:29.0	So he was the one consulting on which emotions were shown on screen, how they would all be
1:34.3	portrayed and all of that. And we get into some really fun behind the scenes stories about that
1:38.9	actually in this episode. His most recent book is called Aw, the new science of wonder and how it can
1:44.8	transform your life. It is so fascinating and it informs a lot of what we talk about today.
1:50.2	We get into what exactly is on practice, how it can have such a large impact on our happiness
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Liz Moody, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Liz Moody and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.