Can’t make it to the total eclipse? 5 ways to bring awe into your life : NPR

OsakaWayne Studios/Getty Images

OsakaWayne Studios/Getty Images

On Monday, April 8, millions of people across the United States will be able to witness a total solar eclipse — an experience that eclipse chaser and science writer David Baron says will change your life.

“You’ll see a sun you’ve never seen before,” he told Life Kit in an interview. “It’s like you’ve left the solar system and are looking back from another world.”

But… what if you can’t make it to this awesome, supernatural, one-of-a-kind solar event?

Don’t worry, there are other ways to bring wonder and enchantment into your daily life. Here are 5 tips from the experts at Life Kit.

To capture the bizarre, give meaning to your dreams

Want to capture the surreality of the eclipse that you can’t achieve? Try to interpret your dreams. Harvard dream researcher Deirdre Barrett explains how. Say your intention out loud at bedtime. “Just tell yourself as you go to sleep that you want to remember your dreams,” she says.

The moment you wake up, write down your dream and “take a moment to notice what you were dreaming about and think about its potential relevance in your waking life,” says Barrett. Pay attention to symbols and images. Then ask yourself what these visuals mean to you. Discover how to use your dreams to solve problemslisten to our episode.

To contemplate supernatural beauty, open your eyes to newness

Yes, the total eclipse will be the brightest event in the sky on Monday, but this doesn’t mean you can’t find beauty in the world around you. Jenny Odell, author of How to do nothingexplained how to do this in a 2020 interview with Life Kit.

Pay attention to change, she says. Take a walk around your neighborhood and “try to pay attention to things that are blooming.” It’s a good time to do it because it’s spring,” she says. “Maybe over the weeks or months, continue to pay attention to these plants and follow their flowering processes.” Or, you could focus on the different types of insects flying and buzzing, or the sounds around you.

This exercise can help you reopen your eyes to the enchantment and novelty of your daily life. For more exercises on how to be carefullisten to our episode.

To change your perception, look at a work of art

Just like observing an eclipse, By connecting with a work of art that truly moves you can change your life. But how do you do this?

Even though it may not be the artist’s intention, indulge in personal connections to art, says art historian Susie Hodge. A color, pattern or flower in a painting, for example, “could trigger something in your childhood or in the depths of your memory.”

These free associations will help elicit an emotional response when you look at a work. Let your mind wander and follow your train of thought wherever it takes you. And a deep connection “will happen,” Hodge says. Read the full story at get tips on what to look for when you find yourself in front of a work of art.

To evoke powerful emotions, connect your heart to that of a poet

Witnessing something as supernatural as an eclipse can stir up powerful emotions that you may not be able to describe – but maybe a poet can. See if you can connect the feelings to the words and touch your heart by reading poetry.

To do this, Harryette Mullen, poet and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, advises giving up trying to discover the meaning of a poem as the poet intended and interpreting it in your own way. Take a look at this poem, “The Song of Wandering Aengus” by William Butler Yeats. Ask yourself: what overall impression do you get? What ideas come to mind? What do you feel? Just look around in your own brain as you read the poem and absorb what it contains.

“Those kinds of overall impressions, I think most of us end up with something,” Mullen says. Whatever that “something” is, trust it. Find out how “visualize” a poem in this story.

To transform your body and mind with nature, try “forest bathing”

Alfian Widiantono/Getty Images

Alfian Widiantono/Getty Images

Yes, observing a total solar eclipse can be a transformational experience, just like other elements of nature. It’s like spending time in the forest, what the Japanese call shinrin-yoku. “It’s just about being in nature, connecting with it through our senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch,” explains Qing Li, a researcher on this subject and professor at the Nippon Medical School in Tokyo.

Gary Evans, director of the Forest Bath Institute in the UK, explains how to connect your body and mind to nature. Find a place in a forest or park where you are surrounded by trees. Settle in a place that looks beautiful and speaks to you.

Now sit back, Evans says, and take a deep breath. “Inhale for a count of two and exhale for a count of four. Then continue doing so. When the exhale is slower than the inhale, it sends a physiological message to your body that says, ‘I am safe. I can relax.’ It’s good.’ “

You might be surprised by what you find, says Evans. “Depending on what’s going on in your emotional world, a lot of times when we look at nature or the forest it gives us something back to help us make sense of what’s going on in our lives.” Learn more about the science of forest bathing and how it affects mental and physical health.

The digital story was written by Malaka Gharib and edited by Clare Marie Schneider. The visual editor is Beck Harlan. We would like to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823 or email us at LifeKit@npr.org.

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