Happiness Break: A Meditation to Inspire a Sense of Purpose

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Dec 25, 2025

In this introspective session, Diana Parra, a professor and registered mindfulness teacher, engages listeners with her experience adapting yoga and meditation for Latino immigrant communities. She introduces a grounding meditation, encouraging reflection on inspiring figures in our lives. Parra guides us to visualize acts of moral beauty that resonate emotionally, while promoting mindfulness practices that enhance empathy and connection. Tune in for a profound exploration of purpose, gratitude, and small actions that embody our admired values.

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INSIGHT

Mindfulness Affects Body And Social Life

Mindfulness can elevate vagal tone, reduce pain, and calm ruminative thought patterns.
Diana Parra notes these practices help both individual stress and social empathy.

ANECDOTE

A Decade Serving Latino Immigrant Communities

Diana Parra has spent a decade bringing yoga and mindfulness to Latino immigrant communities in St. Louis.
She adapts practices to help people handle challenges from the immigration journey.

ADVICE

Ground Yourself With Feet And Breath

Sit or stand in a comfortable, uplifted position and root your feet to the ground.
Focus on slow breaths and return attention to the soles of your feet whenever distracted.

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Take a few minutes to reflect on someone who inspires you, and how you can embody the values you admire in them.

You can also listen to this episode in Spanish here: https://tinyurl.com/4rjmambm

How To Do This Practice:

Find a quiet moment and settle your body: Sit or stand somewhere you feel safe and comfortable. Take a few slow breaths and let your body soften, releasing the noise of the day.
Bring to mind someone who embodies “moral beauty”: Think of a person whose kindness, courage, humility, or integrity has genuinely inspired you. Choose one specific moment when their character moved you.
Visualize an act that inspired you: Recall exactly what the person did. Picture the scene, their actions, their choices. Notice why this moment stood out as meaningful or brave or good.
Notice how your body responds: As you hold this image, tune into your body: warmth, openness, tenderness, or even tears. Allow yourself to feel the emotional impact of their moral beauty.
Reflect on why this matters to you: Ask yourself: What does this moment reveal about the values that matter most to me? What purpose does it awaken? What did this person teach me about how I want to live?
Choose one small aligned action for today: Identify one thing you can do—big or small—that expresses the value or purpose this person embodies. Carry that intention with you into the rest of your day.

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Today’s Happiness Break Guide:

DIANA PARRA is professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. She is also a registered mindfulness and yoga teacher who focuses on sharing these practices with the Latino immigrant community in St Louis.

Learn more about Diana Parra’s work: https://tinyurl.com/4acc7nsv

Related Happiness Break episodes:

Loving Kindness Meditation: https://tinyurl.com/2kr4fjz5

How to Do Good for the Environment (And Yourself): https://tinyurl.com/5b26zwkx

Related Science of Happiness episodes:

Why We Should Seek Beauty: https://tinyurl.com/yn7ry59j

We want to hear from you! Take our quick 5-minute survey to tell us what you love, what you want more of, and how we can make the show even more inspiring and useful. Everyone who completes the survey can enter a drawing to win a copy of The Science of Happiness Workbook: 10 Practices for a Meaningful Life. Click the survey link in the show notes wherever you’re listening, or go directly to: https://tinyurl.com/happyhappysurvey. Thank you for helping us make the podcast even better!

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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Transcription: https://tinyurl.com/4945b59w