University of California’s Greater Good Science Center believes that there are easy ways to be happier and that science proves it. From longer lifespans, to more peaceful communities, the interrelated roles of happiness, purpose and awe have a profound, measurable impact on how we live.
The institute’s faculty director and co-founder, Dr. Dacher Keltner, is also host of the podcast, The Science of Happiness. “People feel lonely. They don’t feel a sense of purpose; they feel cynical about U.S. culture in particular,” he said, while “happiness builds strong connections with other people.”
The professor’s new book, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, centers on the pursuit of those moments that remind us that we are connected to all things, and that the greater good for those things is important. In fact, it is the most important thing. The experience of this understanding is “awe.”
“The [academic] world of happiness often has favorite concepts, flow, mindfulness, stress, gratitude, love, kindness. I think awe is having its day,” he said. It is important because the experience of awe “makes you see common humanity amongst different kinds of people.” It can fuel movements.
A Greater Good Movement
The purpose of the Greater Good Science Center is to provide broad access to happiness-cultivating practices which are strongly supported by scientific evidence. The center funds outside research as well as conducting its own.
“The point was to try to make cutting edge science that examined the importance of our tendency towards relationship, generosity, kindness, compassion and contributions to community,” said Dr. Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas, science director at the center. The list goes on. “All of these pro-social experiences and behaviors [positively impact] our health and well-being over the [human] lifespan,” Simon-Thomas continued.
“The first thing that people need to know is that happiness is fundamental to the human condition, that it’s good for us,” said Keltner. “When we find happiness, our nervous systems are healthier, our hearts are healthier. Our immune systems are better when we find happiness.”
The center has developed a number of channels to inform a wide audience about the benefits of happiness. All the different offerings share this attribute, that they focus on some practical application, like the podcast which includes short segments between episodes that guide the listener through a mindfulness practice.
“We teach a series of online courses focused on happiness in organizations or happiness at work called, ‘The Science of Happiness at Work.’ Those classes will have kind of lecture elements; they’ll have assessment elements. They’ll have a happiness practice,” said Simon-Thomas. Happiness-supporting exercises and activities are designed according to the findings of research.
“We have an education team that is razor-focused on incorporating principles of positive psychology into classroom settings, and school environments. We have live events”—back on again after the pandemic—”featuring luminaries in the field talking about their work either from a kind of applied perspective or a scientific perspective,” said Simon-Thomas.
What Is the Purpose?
“Happiness is not a luxury or epiphenomenon or something that we should think about when everything else is taken care of; it’s front and center to healthy societies,” said Keltner.
“When we find happiness, our minds are sharper, more creative, able to look beyond polarizing differences, see how we are part of larger things in life,” he added. “When we find happiness, we’re usually good for the communities that we’re part of, [including] the natural world.”
This connectedness allows happiness to have a multiplying effect. Manifesting the experience does take some work.
“When I teach about compassion, I make a point of looking at it like a 360-degree phenomenon,” said Simon-Thomas. “Compassion is about concern for suffering, and sometimes that’s your own suffering.”
In a recent episode of the podcast, Bay Area comedian Josh Johnson spoke about his experience doing a week-long mindfulness practice in preparation for coming on the show. Every day, he wrote down three funny things in a journal that he saw over the course of the day. Looking at humor from outside of his professional obligation to use only the best jokes for a paying audience, the journaling practice let him enjoy the humor around him and notice with awe the way it connects him to his surroundings.
“Laughter is involuntary. Something funny happens and you enjoy it, or you enjoy it with people or you are part of a crowd that you all saw it,” reflected Johnson. Humor naturally connects people in a way that can’t be explained, just like awe.
“When we feel awe, we have a greater sense of common humanity. We feel more generous. We feel humbled, we feel curious,” said Simon-Thomas.
Think about a celebrity musician [or a comedian], suggested Simon-Thomas. Having achieved the pinnacle of their fame, the meaning, purpose of what they do is still the same—light up an audience. The response of the crowd is what makes it all worth it. One might get rich doing what they love, but most important is the satisfaction that comes to people doing what they love with purpose.
Applications of the Science
There is strong conviction among those interviewed for this article that happiness and awe are best understood in the experience of the emotions themselves. They are the key to an open state of mind.
“When people feel awe and they [can] think about the context of that feeling, what it’s about,” said Keltner, “they start to realize, ‘Oh, this is who I want to be; this is what my purpose is.’”
Whatever else makes up a daily practice, reflecting on one’s own purpose and making sure a day’s actions align with that purpose supports long-term happiness. There are other, more straightforward practices.
“Diaries and journaling are actually a really great way to remind ourselves to do [purpose work],” said Iris Mauss, a professor of psychology at Berkeley who is not associated with the Greater Good Science Center. Diaries and journals help set the right state of mind, so important for happiness.
“If you want to have a practice that gives you greater happiness, don’t engage in a worried and concerned way, like, ‘What does it mean if I’m not super happy? Is there something wrong with me?’ But engage in a light, non-judging way,” said Mauss. There is that compassion for the self again.
“A lot of people in a community have a strong sense of purpose because they’re in some way, shape or form investing in the collective greater good,” said Simon-Thomas. This creates a “shared uplift of happiness” she said, to carry us all forward together, with purpose.
