Do you sit in a boring office all day? This is why it doesn’t make you happier | Chantal van der Leste

Suspended ceiling, fluorescent beams, and a sad little plant in the corner with brown leaves: most workplaces don’t really write about it at home. We prefer to do this around the attractions we visit during the holidays. Spectacular views of volcanoes, mountain peaks and waterfalls, structures that took hundreds of years to build.

When we encounter something so elusive, incomprehensible and big, we suddenly realize how small and weak we are. Psychologists Jonathan Haidt and Dasher Keltner baptized this feeling in 2003′aweThe literal translation means something like “awe” or “wonder.” Fabulous It turns out that it is not only fun, but also has psychological benefits. After people marvel or feel awe, they feel better. They think more about others, collaborate better, are more generous, experience more time and are less attached to things.

The fact that occasionally putting your attention outside of yourself makes you happy can be seen in the photos people take. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, had two groups of people walk for eight weeks. One group was simply told that walking was healthy, while the other was given a special advantage instructions. Ask them to search for awe, by searching for new expanded environments in the city or nature. Then they took selfies along the way. prepare file aweThe group was walking, the smaller they were in their photos and the more environment appeared in the photos. And the wider their smiles. In the other group, nothing changed in the selfies.

Well, that’s of course not for me, you might be thinking now. Big trips, that’s not possible, when will I see something so special? Don’t worry, Keltner knows what to do. Find out that there are many ways awe to test it in your life. What works for you is subjective, so it requires a little imagination and a little trial and error.

Feeling awe It can be stimulated, for example, by moving in conjunction with others, such as playing sports, dancing or walking, seeing beautiful pictures or very large works of art and learning more about the lives of special people or thinking about things that are out of reach. For example, why is the sky blue? Or how complex people actually are. In this regard, reading this column regularly is a good start.

Want to learn more about psychology and work? Read Chantal’s books Why Perfectionists Are Rarely Happy, 13 Tips Against Perfection (2021) and Our Fallible Thinking at Work (2018).

Watch all our work and career videos here: