Happiness Break: Make Uncertainty Part of the Process

幸福小憩:将不确定性融入过程

The Science of Happiness

2025-05-29

3 分钟
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Through poetic reflection, Yrsa Daley-Ward helps us embrace the in-between moments, reminding us that the unknown can be the very terrain where real change begins. Settle into Stillness: Find a quiet space, get comfortable, and take a few slow breaths to arrive in the moment. Acknowledge the Unknown: Gently notice and name any uncertainty, confusion, or emotional fog you’re feeling without needing to fix it. Welcome the Silence: Allow the silence and stillness to be here, trusting it holds meaning even if it feels uncomfortable. Reflect with Gentle Words: Repeat silently or write: “To love yourself through the darkness is to plant gardens at night.” Feel Your Connection: Remember that many others are also sitting with uncertainty, and you are not alone in this experience. Close with Compassion: Offer yourself kindness through touch or words and affirm that this pause is part of your growth. Scroll down for a transcription of this episode. Today’s Happiness Break Guide: YRSA DALEY-WARD is an award-winning poet and author. Her debut novel, The Catch, comes out June 3rd.Learn more about Yrsa here: https://yrsadaleyward.squarespace.com/ Pre-order her book here: https://tinyurl.com/yanw6bb5 Related Happiness Break episodes: Using Art As Medicine Series: https://tinyurl.com/k3mneupx Making Space For You: https://tinyurl.com/yk6nfnfv How To Awaken Your Creative Energy: https://tinyurl.com/4fknd8ev Related Science of Happiness episodes: Our Brains on Poetry: https://tinyurl.com/y9r9dyzd How Art Heals Us: https://tinyurl.com/yc77fkzu Are You Following Your Inner Compass: https://tinyurl.com/y2bh8vvj Follow us on Instagram: @ScienceOfHappinessPodWe’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/234u5ds7
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  • Hi, everyone. I'm Dacher Keltner, and this is Happiness Break,

  • where we share short science-backed practices to help you connect with yourself,

  • others, and the world around you.

  • Today, poet and author Yursa Daly Ward offers us a reflection, a kind of meditative poem,

  • on how stillness, uncertainty, and silence can be fertile ground for growth.

  • Poetry, research shows, can help us process our emotions,

  • engage our memory, and self-awareness, and even ease stress.

  • Yursa's words invite us into that quiet space.

  • When you're ready, here's Yursa.

  • Hello, my name is Yursa Daly-Ward, and I am a writer and poet,

  • and I really like to write about matters of the heart.

  • and speak to what might be going on in the nervous system and write questions or meditations on our deeper selves and the spaces that we find ourselves in.

  • So I'm just going to leave you with a couple of meditations and they don't have names,

  • but this speaks to some of the things that I've been feeling.

  • This moment is not the whole story To break is not to fail To fall is not to lose There are worlds that only open in the dark To love yourself through the darkness Is to plant gardens at night No witnesses,

  • only stars I'd like to offer you another meditation.

  • Not everything worth finding is wrapped in clarity and sunshine.

  • Some things arrive through the fog, through tension, through that strange in-between.

  • Some things you only see when everything else falls away.

  • And maybe you're not thriving right now.