#546. This Scientist Says One Emotion Might Be the Key to Happiness. Can You Guess What It Is? | Dacher Keltner
Our guest today is one of the most prominent happiness researchers in the world, and he has come to the conclusion that living the good life boils down to one thing: finding awe. We’re going to learn what awe does to your body, how it changes your sense of self and your relationship to the world, and why we evolved to feel awe. We’re also going to get eight simple strategies for mainlining awe into our everyday lives.
Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and the faculty director of UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center. His new book is called, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life.
In this conversation we talk about:
- What awe is exactly
- How awe is different from other primal emotions like fear and appreciation of beauty
- Why we are awe-starved in our culture right now
- The connection between awe and morality
- How to get something called “moral beauty” into our lives as an alternative to the outrage served up by social media
- The importance of something called "collective effervescence"
- How to use nature, music, and even death as sources of awe
- How to understand epiphanies
- And how awe has the potential to get us into trouble sometimes
Photo credit: Natalie Keltner-McNeil
Where to find Dacher Keltner online:
Website: psychology.berkeley.edu/people/dacher-keltner
Book Mentioned:
- Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life.
- Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life
Other Resources Mentioned:
- Dacher Keltner’s First Appearance on the Ten Percent Happier Podcast
- Hume AI
- ServiceSpace
- Greater Good Science Center
- The Science of Happiness Podcast
- Greater Good in Action
