PODCASTHappiness Break

Scroll down for a transcription of this episode.

Indigenous artist Dr. Lyla June Johnston leads a 5-minute freewriting exercise about our personal journeys. Autobiographical writing has been shown to help do better in relationships and feel more satisfied in life.

How to Do This Practice:

You will need writing utensils for this practice.

1. Find a comfortable place to start this writing practice, taking a few moments to ground yourself.
2. Write the prompt, “I come from a place where…” 
3. For the next 5 minutes (or more), write whatever comes to mind, allowing your thoughts and ideas to flow freely, without judgment or filters. Trying keeping your pen to the paper the whole time. 
4. Take some time afterward to read and reflect on what you wrote. 
5. Consider repeating this exercise every few weeks or months to reflect on your past and prospective future. 

Today’s Happiness Break host:

Dr. Lyla June Johnston is an Indigenous artist and scholar from the Diné Nation.

Learn about Dr. Lyla June Johnston's work: https://www.lylajune.com/
Watch Dr. Lyla June Johnston's videos: https://tinyurl.com/bdhbwyru
Follow Dr. Lyla June Johnston on Twitter: https://tinyurl.com/4pj565d6
Follow Dr. Lyla June Johnston on Instagram: https://tinyurl.com/4pj565d6

More resources from The Greater Good Science Center:

The Power of Expressing Your Deepest Emotions (The Science of Happiness Podcast): https://tinyurl.com/2uzh3r67
How to Journal Through Your Struggles: https://tinyurl.com/yua6wkwd
How Journaling Can Help You in Hard Times: https://tinyurl.com/3zv3hunw
How Creative Writing Can Increase Students’ Resilience: https://tinyurl.com/4xw8xuff

How was your experience with this freewriting exercise? Email us at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Find us on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/ycukc4za

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

We're living through a mental health crisis. Between the stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness, burnout — we all could use a break to feel better. That's where Happiness Break comes in. In each biweekly podcast episode, instructors guide you through research-backed practices and meditations that you can do in real-time. These relaxing and uplifting practices have been shown in a lab to help you cultivate calm, compassion, connection, mindfulness, and more — what the latest science says will directly support your well-being. All in less than ten minutes. A little break in your day. 

Transcript:

Dacher Keltner: Welcome to Happiness Break, where we take a few moments out of the day to try a practice that's been shown to support our wellbeing and our ability to show up for our communities. I’m Dacher Keltner.

 Our guide today is Lyla June Johnston, indigenous art, indigenous artist, scholar, and community organizer, and she's leading us through a writing contemplation on our place of origin, whatever that means to you. 

Autobiographical writing like the practice. Lyla June is about to lead us through, has so many benefits. Even if we're writing about stresses, difficulties, or tribulations, researchers have shown that doing so can help us feel more satisfied with our lives. Function better in our relationships and it even is associated with better health in the weeks after we write. 

But before we get started, let's together take a moment to get grounded. Find a comfortable seat, and take a few deep breaths. You may want to breathe in, and expand the lungs, and then follow that exhalation. Let's breathe in. And breathing out. Another breath. On this final breath just notice what the breathing has done. 

Allow your mind to settle. Observing the breath without judging, just noticing  what sensations it might bring, or sense of self it might bring to you. And I encourage you to bring that same observant, non-judgmental frame of mind to today's practice. It's not about writing well, it's just about expressing your story.

So grab a pen and a piece of paper and press pause if you need a moment.  

And when you're ready, here's Lyla June.

Dr. Lyla June Johnston: Greetings, my people and my relatives. My name is Lyla June. And I am from the Naaneesht'ezhi Taach'iinii clan of the Diné Nation. We are also incorrectly known as Navajo. We are Indigenous to what is now called New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona. But we call it Diné Bikeyah Diné Tah, the People's Land. And I'm so happy today to facilitate a little writing exercise that I hope will help you heal, Help you feel, help you introspect. And ultimately help you grow. This writing exercise is all about thinking about where you've come from,  who you are, and all that you've been through to get where you're sitting or standing today.  

You can see maybe things you could have done better. Or maybe you could see how beautiful it was that you overcame that. It may give you a chance to celebrate. It may give you a chance to truly grieve. It may give you a chance to introspect. It may give you a chance to see how far you've come. And so this is what I hope we can accomplish with our little writing exercise. 

We are going to simply write on the prompt. I come from a place where ..

Now this exercise is a free write format, and a free write is where you start writing. You do not judge, you do not filter, and you do not pick up the pen. The ink ideally will be flowing the entire time.

You're gonna write down, “I come from a place where,” and then see where that takes you. And no one's going to be reading this, but you, unless you want to share. So don't feel like it has to be perfect or proper. Don't feel like it has to be something that's polished. Just let it flow.  Whatever wants to come out.  

So please begin with writing,  “I come from a place where…”

You're doing great. Remember, don't filter it. Just let it flow.

You have three minutes remaining.

Keep going.

You have two minutes remaining.

You're doing great.

You have one minute left.

Please wrap up your final thought, and if you need more time, feel free to press pause.

Congratulations on finishing your free writes. I invite you to read it to yourself. And to perhaps do this exercise every few weeks or months to check in about where you feel you have been and where you would like to go in the future.