The View From Here: A Day with Dacher Keltner

As we head into spring break and approach the excitement of spring and the culminating months of our school year, I am reflecting on how fortunate we are for the return to some sense of normalcy at SA. We have experienced many joyful moments of life on campus, particularly this past quarter, ranging from numerous wins from our athletic teams to multiple performances (including our first ever all Spanish language performance) showcasing the broad range of our student’s interests and talents.

In this context, I felt that the message we received this week from Dr. Dacher Keltner couldn’t have been more timely or appropriate. On Wednesday, we hosted Dacher, one of the world’s foremost experts on the science of happiness. Much of Dacher’s work focuses on the emotions and qualities that make us human: awe, compassion, gratitude, and resilience. As we mark the two-year anniversary of the pandemic and keep a close eye on the devastating situation in Ukraine, Dacher’s message about resilience during challenging times resonated with students, staffulty, and the parents who attended his evening talk. You can see Dacher’s presentation at Community Meeting here.

A UC Berkeley professor and director of Berkeley Social Interaction Lab and the Greater Good Institute, Dacher has consulted for many organizations and companies such as Pixar, Apple, and Google. His books include The Power Paradox and Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life and The Compassionate Instinct, and he is co-editor of The Gratitude Project: How the Science of Thankfulness Can Rewire Our Brains for Resilience, Optimism, and the Greater Good.

At this week’s Community Meeting, before Dacher spoke, two of our seniors (Drew Storino ‘22 and Jansen Look ‘22) both gave Senior Speeches that referenced practices and habits they have established to help them deal with stress. These moving and complementary speeches provided a great segue for Dacher’s talk, which focused on skills and techniques that students can use to counteract negative emotions and foster positivity when facing difficulty. 

I have taken the messages from these talks to heart this week and I hope our students have as well. Let’s remember Dacher’s acronym: BEARS (in honor of his ongoing association with Cal Berkeley): Breathe, Empathy, Awe, Reverence, and Self-Compassion. I encourage all of us to utilize some of the simple practices he shared with us: a few moments of meditation or mindfulness and remembering to practice gratitude can have profound impacts on wellbeing. May you all find moments of reverence over these next weeks of break. I look forward to being back together rested, refreshed, and ready to embrace and celebrate the many awe-some moments that make SA such an inspiring place for us all.