Exploring Awe

So, I’ve been thinking a lot about the experience of awe lately. You know, those moments in life when we are struck by the wonder of life, the natural beauty and reverence for a place, object, action, or another human. That moment when we are left speechless and just glad to be alive.

I’ve been lucky enough to have had many moments of awe in my life, the very latest one being the moment I first met my best friend’s newborn baby. I look into this new baby’s eyes and am amazed - imagining her neurocircuitry developing so fast with every interaction.

That first year of development in a child’s life is so rapid and when I see her each week, she is making more noises and moving in new ways. I am also in awe of my friend becoming a mother. I asked her if anything about becoming a mother surprised her and she said she was never really into babies but after she had her daughter that changed. 

This got me thinking about how often we experience these life-affirming - and even life-changing moments, and how staying mindful and in the moment can really open us up to more moments of awe and wonder. Recognizing and appreciating these moments can have a cascading effect throughout our whole life. 

I recently took a workshop all about the benefits and practice of awe and gratitude. The class was wide-ranging, and included the science of awe and how it affects us physiologically. Knowing the science behind it helped me connect to moments in my life when I’ve been truly awe struck.

A 2012 research paper explained that, “awe involves the sense that one has encountered something immense in size, number, scope, complexity, ability, or social bearing” - for example witnessing a natural wonder, pondering  the origins of the universe, or watching an Olympic athlete. (beat) It went on to say that, “awe alters our understanding of the world”. 

There were around 20 of us in this workshop and at one point we went around the group each recalling a moment of awe in our lives, and remembering all of the sensory details involved - where were we, what did this feel like, how we reacted physically

Some people talked about being at the bedside of loved ones who were passing , others recalled seeing the moon through a telescope.  When it came to my turn I remembered an important moment of awe in my life - the time I first saw the colosseum in Rome when I was about 15 on a highschool trip. The first thing that hit me was that this structure that I’d read about and seen in books, had remained relatively intact for thousands of years. I imagined all that had gone on inside the colosseum over those years - all the people that had visited, how they might have looked, and the changes that building had witnessed across the millenia. It’s a memory that stays with me.

But as well as being an important memory for me, I learned that recounting and sharing these moments - with others - is very good for our mental and physical health. I left the workshop feeling connected to people I had just known for a weekend online and I noticed how relaxed and present I was with my family members as I returned to everyday life. I felt restored and connected in a way I hadn’t in a long time. 

Research has shown that awe affects our behavior, making us more generous, and encouraging prosocial behavior which includes sharing, caring and assisting others. Sharing moments of awe with others also encourages ethical decision-making. Part of this is because these moments of awe show us how small we are, but in a good way, meaning we are part of this big human community, witnessing this magnificent awe-inspiring world and working together to make amazing things happen. 

I chose awe as a theme for two mindfulness workshops I led recently and I realized that awe is contagious. As people shared stories about looking into their newborn’s eyes for the first time or just staring up at the night sky, everyone was attuning to each other and experiencing the feelings of wonder and amazement together with empathy and a shared joy and understanding.