When was the last time you felt a sense of goosebump-inducing, jaw-dropping, eye-widening awe?
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Think back to a time where you felt awe – that sensation of being in the presence of something so vast and majestic, it transcends your understanding of the world. You can most definitely experience this feeling when you’re standing next to a giant sequoia tree in California, US – where its tree top disappears 300 feet into the sky. You can feel it when you’re in the Maldives, looking up at the startingly clear Milky Way. You can feel it when a newborn baby clutches your finger with her tiny fist.
Awe gives us an incredible reality check, humbling us and letting us know that there are bigger forces at work than ourselves.
But you don’t have to travel halfway around the world to a dormant volcano or a vast canyon to experience awe. It’s possible to do so in daily routines, according to Dacher Keltner, American author of the 2023 book, Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life.
In his study, Keltner found that people usually experienced awe a little more than two times a week. They found it in simple things – a friend’s generosity, dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves of a tree, or a song. It’s important to feel awe regularly, because, according to an August 2022 study in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, awe has been found to benefit wellbeing – a brief dose of it can reduce stress, decrease inflammation and positively impact the cardiovascular system.
Here are a few sources of everyday awe, according to Keltner’s book:
1. Other people
We live in a community, so it makes sense that other people can inspire a sense of awe in us. Acts of courage, for instance, from a colleague standing up to an oppressive boss, or bystanders defusing a fight, were found to create awe. Similarly, simple kindness had the same impact.
2. Taking a walk
Another common source is just taking a walk. According to American writer Rebecca Solnit, who wrote about the history of walking in her book Wanderlust, walks can produce a form of consciousness where our self extends into the environment around us. Keltner’s study involved a group of participants who went on a weekly walk for eight weeks – he found that they reported feeling a greater sense of awe with each passing week (rather than a reduction, as most people would expect). By tapping into their childlike sense of wonder, they noticed the vastness of things in everyday objects – like the intricate details of a flower – increased their happiness and reduced their anxiety.
3. The arts
Another area that generates awe, the arts can make us feel connected to something that’s beyond words. For some, music grants those moments – it activates dopaminergic pathways in the brain, the circuitry responsible for reward and pleasure, allowing the mind to explore and wonder. If you’ve ever felt chills listening to a piece of music, or viewing grand artwork, you’ve experienced awe. A July 2012 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that people get chills when they are engaged in making sense of the unknown.
So, let’s open ourselves to awe wherever we can find it, even if it’s just for a moment. The rewards are endless.
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