So for two weeks every day I would go outside, sometimes with a cup of tea, and just walk

around my garden and treat it like a space that deserves my attention.

You know, it's not a fancy garden, I only just started planting it in the last year.

It was mostly just concrete before.

And yet there's so much stuff going on, like there's a whole universe of little characters.

Usually I would notice a bump will be, but I noticed so many other insects visiting flowers,

hummingbirds, little tiny wasps and flies.

Oh, and this very large cricket kind of tan looking guy with spiky legs, and he always sits

in the same spot.

And because I was paying such close attention, I got to appreciate it, you know.

I'm Dacker Keltner, welcome to the Science of Happiness.

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is just take a moment to pay close attention to the

more beautiful things that surround us.

But when we do, the results can be awe-inspiring.

Our guest today, Tejal Rao, devoted her career to this deep focus on food.

She's an award-winning restaurant critic for The New York Times.

Tejal tried a happiness exercise where she directed that same kind of sharp focus on

the natural environment by taking photographs of it.

We also dive into how spending time in nature, versus a busy city, affects our focus and

performance levels.

All that after this break.

We all want to feel better, be happier, and have more freedom.

...