Having a curious approach to life can improve our mood, creativity and relationships. Scott Shigeoka leads a visualization exercise to help you approach someone you might disagree with with an open and curious mind.

How To Do This Practice:

1. Ground Yourself: Sit comfortably, close your eyes, and take three slow, deep breaths, noticing the sensation of each inhale and exhale. Let your body begin to settle.
2. Picture the Conversation: Bring to mind an upcoming interaction that may feel challenging and visualize where it’s happening and what the setting looks like. See yourself arriving there.
3. Lead with Curiosity: Imagine yourself speaking with a calm, open tone and asking thoughtful, genuine questions. Picture your body language expressing interest and care.
4. See It Going Well: Visualize the other person responding positively—softening, engaging, or opening up. Notice how connection feels in your body.
5. Rehearse the Hard Moment: Imagine a tense moment arising and observe what happens inside you without reacting. See yourself choosing a curious question instead of a defensive response.
6. Close with Intention: Picture the conversation ending with appreciation and mutual respect. Take three more slow breaths, then gently open your eyes.

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Today’s Happiness Break Guide:

SCOTT SHIGEOKA is an author and storyteller who focuses on themes of curiosity and well-being.

Learn More About Scott’s work here: https://tinyurl.com/y5xyxky7

Related Happiness Break episodes:

Loving Kindness Meditation: https://tinyurl.com/2kr4fjz5

Embodying Resilience: https://tinyurl.com/46383mhx

A Meditation for When You Feel Uneasy: https://tinyurl.com/4utrkyh5

Related Science of Happiness episodes:

Make Uncertainty Part of the Process: https://tinyurl.com/234u5ds7

How To Show Up For Yourself: https://tinyurl.com/56ktb9xc

How Holding Yourself Can Reduce Stress: https://tinyurl.com/2hvhkwe6

Follow us on Instagram: @ScienceOfHappinessPod

We’d love to hear about your experience with this practice! Share your thoughts at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

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

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

Transcription: https://tinyurl.com/s5atfjm7

Finding ways to bend tasks toward your strengths and passions can make you happier, more productive and find more meaning in your life—no matter your job.

Summary: On this episode of The Science of Happiness, we explore a research-backed practice in Job Crafting, where you take stock of the tasks that fill your day, how much time and energy they require, what really lights you up, and what changes you can make to better align your efforts at work with your genuine strengths and passions. We learn how Job Crafting doesn’t just benefit your own well-being and help to guard against burnout, it can also boost your whole team’s productivity and morale.

How To Do This Practice:

1. Take a “Before” Snapshot: Write down everything you regularly do in a typical week, from major responsibilities to small recurring tasks.
2. Label Time and Energy: Next to each activity, mark whether it requires low, medium, or high time and energy so you can see where your resources are going.
3. Notice How It Feels: Pay attention to what drains, stresses, or creates guilt—and what energizes or uplifts you.
4. Reconnect with What Matters: Ask yourself what you most care about right now and what activities make you feel most alive.
5. Sketch an “After” Version: Imagine how you’d ideally spend your time and where you might reduce, release, or expand commitments.
6. Make One Small Change: Choose one realistic shift you can try this week to better align your days with what brings meaning and joy.

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Today’s Guests:

SUSAN GLASS is a retired English professor and visually impaired, Bay Area-based poet. She’s the author of the poetry book “The Wild Language of Deer.”

Read Susan’s book here: https://tinyurl.com/2jn3jutt

MARIA TIMS is a professor of Management and Organization at the University of Amsterdam School of Business and Economics.

Learn more about her work here: https://tinyurl.com/mtp7tpy3

Related The Science of Happiness episodes:

How To Show Up For Yourself: https://tinyurl.com/56ktb9xc

How To Feel Better About Yourself: https://tinyurl.com/42fn62a2

How to Feel More Hopeful: https://tinyurl.com/4tfwhbpb

Related Happiness Breaks:

A Self-Compassion Meditation For Burnout: https://tinyurl.com/485y3b4y

5 Minutes of Gratitude: https://tinyurl.com/r6pkw2xx

A Meditation to Connect With Your Roots: https://tinyurl.com/ycy9xazc

Tell us about your experience with this practice. Email us at happinesspod@berkeley.edu 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/568punx8

Research shows that reflecting on our shared humanity can increase self-compassion and life satisfaction while reducing feelings of isolation. In this practice, Dacher Keltner guides us to look beneath our differences and connect with the qualities that make us human together.

This guided exercise draws on a meditation by Sean Fargo, a mindfulness teacher and former Buddhist monk.

How To Do This Practice:

1. Settle your body: Sit comfortably and take a few slow, steady breaths. Let your shoulders drop, soften your jaw, and allow your body to feel supported by the ground or chair beneath you.
2. Notice what’s here: Briefly scan your body and emotions. Whatever you’re feeling—calm, tense, distracted, open—simply acknowledge it without trying to change it.
3. Bring someone to mind: Think of someone you don’t know well, feel distant from, or have mild tension with. Picture them as if they were in front of you.
4. Reflect on your similarities: Silently repeat phrases like: This person has a body and mind, just like me; this person has felt sadness, joy, and pain, just like me; this person wants to be safe, loved, and understood, just like me.
5. Gently extend kind intentions toward them: May you be well. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you live with ease.
6. Return and reflect: Bring your attention back to your breath and body. Notice if anything has shifted—perhaps a softening, a little more space, or a sense of connection—and carry that awareness into your day.

This episode was supported by a grant from The John Templeton Foundation on Spreading Love Through the Media.

Related Happiness Break episodes:

A Meditation for When You Feel Uneasy: https://tinyurl.com/4x27ut3p

A Meditation to Connect With Your Roots: https://tinyurl.com/ycy9xazc

A Mindful Breath Meditation, With Dacher Keltner: https://tinyurl.com/mr9d22kr

Related The Science of Happiness episodes:

Why Compassion Requires Vulnerability: https://tinyurl.com/yxw4uhpf

How to Feel More Hopeful: https://tinyurl.com/4tfwhbpb

How Holding Yourself Can Reduce Stress: https://tinyurl.com/2hvhkwe6

Follow us on Instagram: @ScienceOfHappinessPod

We’d love to hear about your experience with this practice! Share your thoughts at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

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

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

Transcription: https://tinyurl.com/4ju7rmtd