2025-12-11
10 分钟Hi, I'm Dacher Keltner, and this is Happiness Break,
where we share short science-backed practices to help you connect with yourself and the world around you.
Today, we're exploring ancestral connection.
It's one of the ways to remind ourselves that we're part of something larger.
Studies have found that reflecting on ancestral stories can make life feel more meaningful and strengthen our ability to cope when we're overwhelmed by stress.
This connection can also give us a stronger sense of identity, continuity,
and belonging, essential elements toward better mental health and self-esteem.
Here is Dr.
Sarah King.
She's a neuroscientist, medical anthropologist, and educator at UC San Diego.
She's going to lead us in a meditation for cultivating compassion for our ancestors.
Wherever you are in this moment, you can begin by noticing how your body is in space.
Here, the invitation is to bring your attention to the bottoms of the feet,
or whichever area of the body is meeting with the earth.
Noticing the weight and the feeling of your body, being held by gravity.
Whatever quality the thoughts are that are arising in the mind, you can notice those too.
See if you can relate to those thoughts much like you would relating to clouds in the sky.
They might be big poofy clouds or teeny tiny wispy clouds.
They might be moving fast or moving slow.
In moments like this, we might remember the sky as ancestor too,