Moved
Feeling moved means being touched by kindness, love or beauty so much that you feel it in your chest or your eyes. A soldier's surprise homecoming, a stranger paying for someone's groceries, a father's wedding speech. Across 19 countries, the trigger was the same: a sudden jump in closeness between people, even strangers on a screen.1
- On the wheel: Happy, then grateful, then moved
- Nearby: Awe, sentimental, thankful
- In the body: Warm chest, wet eyes, chills, a lump in the throat
- Often points to: People coming closer together
Eyes stinging at someone else's wedding
It sneaks up on you. You're watching a clip or half listening to a toast, and suddenly your eyes sting and your throat closes, and you laugh at yourself for tearing up over people you've never met.
"My grandmother has dementia and mostly doesn't know us anymore. Then my daughter sang her an old hymn, and she sang along with every word. None of us could talk after."
Kama muta: moved by love
Researchers who study the feeling call it kama muta, a Sanskrit phrase for "moved by love".1 Janis Zickfeld and colleagues tested it with 3,542 people in 19 countries and 15 languages.1
Across cultures the trigger fit one pattern: seeing or feeling a sudden increase in closeness between people.1 A reunion, an act of devotion, a moment of belonging.
It didn't have to happen to you. Watching it happen to strangers counted.
An earlier study by Beate Seibt and colleagues found two main triggers for tears of being moved: a jump in closeness between people, and seeing a moral act, like courage or generosity.2
Chills, a warm chest, a lump in the throat
Kama muta commonly came with a set of body signs that went together in every country's sample: a warm feeling in the chest, moist eyes or tears, chills or goosebumps, a choked-up throat, and a buoyant, even exhilarated lift.1
It also came with a pull, toward being closer to people and more committed to them.1
That may be why a moving story can leave you wanting to call someone.
Happy tears or sad tears?
People in the Seibt study compared recent times they cried over something good with times they cried over something bad.2 The good-tears moments were the ones they called being moved or touched, with goosebumps and warmth in the chest.2
| Tears | Because | See |
|---|---|---|
| Moved | People came together | This page |
| Sad | Something was lost | Grief |
| Sentimental | A memory or an object, more softly | Sentimental |
Crying at a wedding can be this, with no sadness in it.
Following the pull
- Let the tears come. They're part of the feeling.
- Name the trigger. A reunion, a kindness, someone's courage? What moved you points at what you value.
- Reach out while it's fresh. If it made you want to call someone, call them tonight.
- Write one line. What you saw, and who it made you think of.
What moved you recently, and what did it remind you of? Write who came to mind, and whether there's something you want to say to them.
Answer this with JoyQuestions people ask about feeling moved
Why do I cry at happy moments?
Tears of being moved come with good events, reunions and kindness and courage most of all.2 They look like sad tears and they're a different experience.
Is being moved the same as being grateful?
They often arrive together, which is why moved sits inside grateful on this wheel. Gratitude is about something good that came to you, while being moved can come from watching something good pass between two strangers.1 More on grateful.
Why do adverts and films make me cry?
Many are built around the trigger. A reunion at an airport gate, a parent and child making up: a sudden closeness between people is exactly what set off kama muta in the 19-country study, even when the people were strangers.1