How the Night Sky Can Help You Be Happier
Tonight, just after sunset, go outside. Bundle up if you have to. Look up to the Western sky, and you’ll see Jupiter and Saturn slowly converging. And no, this isn’t some astrological BS. It’s astronomy … and, as I’ll explain in a moment, neuroscience.
The two planets won’t reach their closest distance until December 21st, but it’s worth your while to watch them inch towards each other over the next few nights. Plus tonight the moon will be right up in their business as well.
So why should you do this? One word: awe. It’s an often overlooked, but powerful emotion, that has so many effects on your brain and wellbeing.
Sure, at face value looking at these planets might seem mundane – I mean you’re just looking at a bright dot of light and a fainter one nearby. But if you think about it for a moment, there’s so much more to it – so much to make you feel your smallness in space and time.
While you’re looking at those two dots, keep in mind what you’re actually seeing as you peer into the vastness of space. Those are the two largest planets in the solar system – far larger than the ends of the earth – but they’re so far away they seem miniscule. And planets don’t produce their own light, so you’re seeing light from the sun bounce off them as it travels over a billion miles to reach your eyeball. And while they appear right next to each other, you’re really looking past Jupiter to see Saturn, millions of miles further out in the solar system. And despite all that vastness they are some of our close neighbors in our little corner of the universe, and are dwarfed in size and distance by the millions of stars that spread across the night sky.
And put it into perspective in time as well. This is a rare event … even more rare than a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, amiright? It’s the first time any human has been able to see them get this close in over 800 years. (I mean they got that close like 400 years ago too, but it wasn’t visible from earth, so who cares?)
Think of the ancient Greeks who mapped the night sky and marveled at the movement of the stars and planets. When you look at the tiny speck of Saturn think of Galileo who over 400 years ago used a crude telescope to stare at it and somehow discerned it had rings! And they’ll still keep moving around and around the sun in their steady orbits for millions of years after you and everyone you know has passed away.
It’s enough to make you feel downright insignificant. But more importantly, it can make all your problems seem insignificant as well. This is one of the reasons why the feeling of awe can have such a profound effect on your wellbeing.
Research shows that awe can have a powerful impact on your mood and leads you to feel a greater sense of connection to others (Joye, 2015). Don’t you miss feeling connected?
Awe can even help in coping with loss (Koh, 2017) … and there has unfortunately been so much lost this year.
Awe connects you to something greater than yourself, and not surprisingly reduces activity in self-focused regions of the prefrontal cortex (Ishizu, 2014). It also causes a strong activation of the calming parasympathetic nervous system (Chirico, 2017), which is a powerful antidote to the “fight-or-flight” mode you’ve probably been stuck in all year.
So put on a jacket and head outside into the night. Take a break from the rest of your day or month or year to marvel at the wonders of the universe.
New Release!
If you want some help starting the New Year off on the right foot, The Upward Spiral Card Deck is being released January 2nd: https://amzn.to/2KbgMgM
References:
Chirico, A., Cipresso, P., Yaden, D. B., Biassoni, F., Riva, G., & Gaggioli, A. (2017). Effectiveness of immer- sive videos in inducing awe: An experimental study. Scientific Reports, 7(1): 1218.
Ishizu, T., & Zeki, S. (2014). A neurobiological enquiry into the origins of our experience of the sublime and beautiful. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8: 891.
Joye, Y., & Bolderdijk, J. W. (2015). An exploratory study into the effects of extraordinary nature on emo- tions, mood, and prosociality. Frontiers in Psychology, 5: 1577.
Koh, A. H., Tong, E. M. W., & Yuen, A. Y. L. (2017). The buffering effect of awe on negative affect towards lost possessions. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 9760: 1–10.
