How many times have you said (or heard someone say) something was awesome? But was it really?
What is awe anyway?
Centuries ago, awe was a word to describe fear toward divine beings. Merriam-Webster defines it now as an overwhelming emotion that is a combination of wonder, respect, and sometimes dread that is inspired by authority, by the sacred or sublime, or by fear (or some combination of these). It’s the feeling you get in the presence of something vast that challenges your understanding. Think of it as revered respect mixed with fear or wonder…. An all-consuming emotion.
So, saying a tasty meal was awesome is an exaggeration most of the time (although I guess you could be in awe of some cuisine…). So much for our popular expressions!
But real awe is something worth striving for. True awe makes us feel small and unimportant, but in a good way. It’s those times when you’re experiencing something larger than yourself, or your ordinary level of experience, and it forces you to change your understanding of the world. Unless fear or a dangerous situation is involved in creating awe, it is most often an amazing (truly awesome!) experience with positive effects on us.
People describe the emotion with words like wonder, amazement, surprise, or transcendence. It can be inspired by other people, nature, music, art, architecture, religious experiences, the supernatural, or even your own accomplishments. We can feel awe from looking at the night sky, marveling at the birth of a child, or from everyday events, like a flower blooming or witnessing a stranger do something kind for a homeless person.
Increased experiences of awe are also linked to more life satisfaction, increased humility, better mood, less feelings of materialism, and more sceptical of weak arguments (and misinformation!). It can make us better people socially, too—more generous and cooperative than those who experience other emotions (shown in a study setting).
Awe can change our perception of time, making it seem more expansive, and encourages us to appreciate the present. It tends to make us feel small and inconsequential but, at the same time, very aware of ourselves and our place in the universe, with increased connection to others and a part of something greater than ourselves.
And awe is good for our health…
A 2015 Canadian study found that experiencing awe was a predictor of lower levels of proinflammatory cytokines (the chemicals that damage the lungs in severe COVID). The researchers suggested their results could provide an explanation for how positive emotions can improve our health... and how negative ones can damage it when chronically elevated!.
Scientists have even measured what happens in the brain when we are in awe. Our “default mode network” (the connected parts of the brain that fire up when we’re day dreaming, in "auto mode", or thinking about ourselves) becomes less active. This slow-down also happens during meditation, states of flow, and on psychedelic “trips”. Note that the default mode network is also more active when we’re lonely, depressed, or dwelling on unpleasant experiences from the past.
During these pandemic times, when we’re not travelling, going to art galleries, and just staying home more doing our same routines, our default mode networks may be working overtime… creating inflammatory cytokines that could be damaging our health.
So, how can we get more awe into our lives?
The first thing to do is to start noticing awesome things that are already there that we are ignoring. You know how they say to “take time to smell the roses”? Awe comes in different intensities, and they all count toward building a more awesome life.
Turning off distractions that keep you from noticing the awe around you also helps you to see it’s there. Turn your attention outward and be open to inspirations. Just like starting a gratitude journal can help you feel more grateful (and happier), paying attention to awesome things around you, even little ones, can make your whole life more awesome.
According to Dacher Keltner, psychologist and researcher, writer and founder of the Greater Good Science Center at University of California, Berkeley, here are 8 ways to find more awe in your life:
1. Look for and appreciate moral beauty, courage, and talent in your fellow human beings. Nature and the spiritual are important sources of awe, but so are people, from those who achieve greatness through their acts or talent, to the simple but special acts that people do in your community.
2. Move in unison with others. Moving together with people, whether dancing, playing music, cheering the same team, or even walking with a friend, helps strengthen social ties and can elicit awe.
3. Get out in nature. Try a 15-minute “awe walk” in a natural setting, looking for patterns in your surroundings, shifting your awareness to what’s around you. Nature is amazing both on a vast scale and a miniature one.
4. Listen to or create music. Ever experienced “chills” from a beautiful or moving piece of music? This is a form of awe that we can tap into easily, with digital music and a set of headphones, almost any time. Making music, especially with others, combines awe-inspiring music with synchronized movement with others… doubly awesome!
5. Appreciate art or cinema with stunning visual elements. While we can enjoy art and films at home through our computers, experiencing it in larger form at a gallery (or at least on a big screen TV) is more awe inspiring. Immerse yourself in the detail and appreciate the talent that created it.
6. Seek out a spiritual or religious experience. Ritual and prayer can be profound sources of awe, as can nature, science, yoga, or meditation. It’s the type of experiences that you personally find spiritually meaningful that are most likely to result in awe. Even recalling or writing about the experience later can renew the feeling of awe, along with its health benefits.
7. Consider big ideas. The process of wrapping your head around a concept that’s new to you is called cognitive accommodation, and it’s a key part of awe… changing your understanding of the world or some part of it. Whether it’s finally understanding an intricate piece of poetry, or (like Descartes and Newton) being so awed by rainbows that you were inspired to learn the physics of light, wonder can lead to discovery which can evoke awe.
8. Witnessing life and death. I can clearly remember seeing each of my 3 children when they were first born… truly awe-inspiring moments for me. I was in such awe of what we had created, I spend hours just looking at my first-born. He was so awe-inspiring… and still is! If you’re a parent too, stop for a moment and remember those first hours with your child. Perhaps you’ll feel the awe again too. And grandkids are even more awesome! But for me, sadness at losing loved ones overwhelmed any awe I might have experienced. However, the awe can come from remembering how they enjoyed life, things they achieved, the love they shared…
I’m sure you can think of other everyday sources of awesomeness in your life, and if you look around with awe in mind, you’ll find more. Share your awe in a comment… maybe you’ll inspire others (and me too)!
And just a final note about psychedelic drugs. Once considered too dangerous and banned from use, this class of drugs is being researched again in controlled settings for use in mental health. Researchers describe the effect of a guided psychedelic experience as creating an effect similar to awe, with feelings of being connected and “one” with the universe, a smallness of self, and dissolution of ego. In Canada, these drugs are being researched and approved for end-of-life issues, treatment resistant depression, anxiety, addiction, PTSD and more. Interestingly, a single treatment can have long term results. The US, however, has not yet approved this type of treatment, although I have read some drugs in the class have been approved for research. You can read more about this in the references below and in my blog “Old Drugs, New Research” https://jeanniebeaudin.wixsite.com/author/post/2019/07/20/old-drugs-new-research published on July 20th, 2019.
References:
How to experience more wow—Psyche
Default Mode Network—Psychology Today
What Is Awe—Greater Good
Old Drugs, New Research—JCB blog about psychedelic drug research
Psychedelic Therapy in Clinical Settings—Mindcure
Dacher Keltner—Wikipedia
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