What happens when you linger and look closely at a piece of art? Nathalie Ryan, an educator from the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., guides us through a slow looking practice shown to help deepen your sense of awe, presence, and connection.

How To Do This Practice:

1. Choose an image to focus on: Pick a piece of art, photograph, postcard, or even a recent photo from your phone that captures a natural or urban scene. Don’t overthink it—choose something that draws your attention.
2. Begin with a few slow breaths: Take a moment to settle into the present. Deepen your inhale, lengthen your exhale, and allow your breathing to slow the pace of your day.
3. Let your eyes wander slowly: Scan the image without rushing. Notice the light, colors, shapes, patterns, textures, and details that begin to emerge as you spend more time looking.
4. Imagine yourself inside the scene: Engage all of your senses. What might you hear, smell, feel, or taste in this place? Allow yourself to step into the environment with your imagination.
5. Notice how the scene changes: Picture the image at different times of day and throughout the seasons. Reflect on how the light, colors, atmosphere, and activity might shift over time.
6. Reflect on what arises: Pause to notice any emotions, memories, thoughts, or sensations that surfaced during the practice. Consider what changed when you gave yourself permission to look more slowly.

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Today’s Happiness Break Guide:

NATHALIE A. RYAN is a Senior Educator at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, where she has led programs for educators, families, teens, and the adult public since 2002.

Related Happiness Break episodes:

How To Ground Yourself in Nature: https://tinyurl.com/25ftdxpm

Pause to Look at the Sky: https://tinyurl.com/4jttkbw3

Experience Nature Wherever You Are, with Dacher: https://tinyurl.com/mrutudeh

Related Science of Happiness episodes:

Cities of Awe Series: https://tinyurl.com/2vyhxvny

How Cities Can Make Space for Awe: https://tinyurl.com/yr7m2zb5

What Humans Can Learn From Trees: https://tinyurl.com/48te84ps

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.

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

Transcription: https://tinyurl.com/mt4mcw3m

Description:

Sharing a new podcast called Stories from a Stranger, which features portraits of strangers connected by themes of love, loss, regret, inspiration, illness, family connections, and more. In each episode of Stories from a Stranger, host Hunter Prosper shares raw, intimate, long-form conversations with real people. It’s a show that inspires empathy and connection, proving that “Every stranger has a story.”

In this episode, Hunter meets three strangers at three different stages of life and asks them what love means to them. You’ll hear how love looks and feels different at every age—from the dizzying rush of a first crush to the quiet comfort of a lifelong partner, and the ache of wondering if love will ever come at all. Today, yesterday, and tomorrow, love is in the air.

Listen to Stories from a Stranger at https://lnk.to/storiesfromastrangerSH

Transcription: https://tinyurl.com/mu6sn8dp

What happens when we slow down enough to really experience art? We visit a museum to discover how slow looking at art can cultivate awe, empathy, and a greater sense of connection in a distracted world.

Summary: Art has the power to move us emotionally, physically, and socially—but only if we take the time to truly engage with it. As part of our Cities of Awe series, this episode of The Science of Happiness explores what happens when we slow down and really look at a piece of art. We visit the Nevada Museum of Art to look at the science and practice of slow looking—how it can deepen empathy, presence, and everyday meaning.

How To Do This Practice:

1. Choose One Piece and Commit to Staying With It: Pick a single artwork, photograph, object, or even a scene in nature. Set aside about 15 minutes and put away distractions—especially your phone. The goal is not to “figure it out,” but to stay present long enough for your experience to deepen.
2. Spend Time Noticing the Form: For the first five minutes, focus only on what you see. Notice the shapes, textures, colors, lines, patterns, shadows, movement, or composition. Let your eyes wander slowly across the piece and observe details you might normally miss.
3. Pay Attention to Your Emotional Response: For the next five minutes, shift inward. What feelings arise as you look? Curiosity, comfort, sadness, awe, tension, delight, nostalgia? Instead of labeling the experience as simply “I like it” or “I don’t,” explore the full range of emotions and reactions that emerge.
4. Let Your Mind Make Associations: For the last five minutes, allow the artwork to lead your thoughts elsewhere. What memories, people, places, or ideas come to mind? Does it remind you of something from your own life or spark questions about the world, history, or humanity? Follow the associations without judging them.
5. Stay Open to Complexity and Discomfort: Some works may bring up conflicting or uncomfortable emotions. Rather than rushing past them, give yourself permission to sit with them.

Read the full study here.

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Today’s Guests:

COLIN ROBERTSON is the Senior Vice President of Education and Research at the Nevada Museum of Art.

Learn more about Colin Robertson here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinmrobertson/

DR. ANJAN CHATTERJEE is a professor of Neurology, Psychology, and Architecture and the founding Director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics.

Learn more about Dr. Anjan Chatterjee here: https://tinyurl.com/yw2fs364

Related Science of Happiness episodes:

Cities of Awe Series: https://tinyurl.com/2vyhxvny

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/5b5prh4t