Why We Should Look Up at the Sky

When did you last take a moment to really look up at the sky? Shifting our gaze upward is linked to more creativity, capacity to focus—and it's a gateway to awe.

Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/3dbvxvyb

Episode summary:

Natalie didn’t spend much time finding shapes in the clouds as a small kid. And when she got older, looking up was even worse for her. Natalie spent time in jail, where she spent most of her days indoors under harsh lights. Today, she’s a student at a prestigious university. She tried a practice in looking up for our show. When we look up, our brain gets better at being playful, creative, and thinking critically. We also tend to see vast and beautiful things above our heads, like a canopy of leaves, branches and singing birds, or a starry night sky. Often, looking up is all we need to do to find moments of awe in our day-to-day lives. And that’s a wonderful thing, because feeling awe changes how our brains work in a way that’s really good for us.

This is the second episode of The Science of Happiness in a three-part series called The Science of Awe. If you’d like to learn more about awe, our host, Dacher Keltner, has a new book out about it. It’s called Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. Learn more here:

Release date

Lydbog: 19. januar 2023