Have you ever been moved to tears by an intricate work of art or the skill of a musical virtuoso? Or struggled to express your complex mix of feels when staring out at a breathtakingly beautiful landscape or an otherworldly sunset?
If yes, then you, my friend, have experienced awe. And that is awesome.
Awe is one of the most complex and profound human emotions, sitting at the intersection of wonder, humility, admiration, and sometimes even fear. It’s defined as the emotional response to vastness that challenges or transcends your understanding of the world – so much so that your mind needs to work hard to integrate the experience and make sense of it.
It’s common to experience awe in response to wonders of the natural world. My recent trip to the US this August was a veritable buffet of awe. I was knocked breathless by the vast expanse and jarringly harsh beauty of the Grand Canyon. And I cried complex tears of awe when I gazed up at the night sky in Zion National Park, powdered with stars.
But awe is also often experienced in response to artistic or creative mastery, such that we can be moved beyond words by the work of an artist, musician, or athlete performing at the peak of their skill.
And you can experience awe through collective energy and connection, such as ceremonies, festivals, sporting events, or even political demonstrations that pulse with shared emotion. The sense of collective effervescence can evoke a sense of collective identity, expanding beyond the individual self. I remember feeling that most profoundly on 15 February 2003, when two million of us marched on London against the invasion of Iraq. Though our protests did not succeed, the feeling of shared emotion and solidarity helped to propel our efforts long beyond that day.
You can also experience awe through spiritual moments, feeling unity with everything through meditation or prayer. And you can experience existential awe through encounters with birth and death.
And you can even be awestruck by extraordinary acts of kindness, courage, or sacrifice. Witnessing firefighters going into the World Trade Centre on 9/11 as it was collapsing on those trapped inside sparked a sense of moral elevation as the extreme act of courage and sacrifice expanded our collective sense of human potential.
Awe is not for the faint-hearted.
Emotionally, awe is a paradox that commands something of an ego-reset. You feel small but connected to something greater. You feel humbled yet expansive. You feel overwhelmed yet aligned.
WHY IS AWE SO AWESOME?
SHIFT IN FOCUS
Awe shifts our focus outward from the self to the collective or even cosmic perspective. This zooming out can quite literally put our personal problems into perspective, shrinking them relative to the vastness of the awe-inspiring experience. And this perspective-reset can spark a sense of gratitude for what we have.
MEANING-MAKING
When experiencing awe, we often find ourselves reflecting on bigger-picture questions about the meaning of things and our purpose in life. As such, awe encourages curiosity and learning in service of integrating the awe-inspiring experience. And when we are able to make meaning of our experiences and clarify our purpose, we become more resilient to setbacks.
HUMILITY
Awe tends to shift our focus away from ourselves as being at the centre of the universe to recognizing our place as part of something much bigger. This humility supports growth and adaptability, and can help improve how we relate to others.
CONNECTION
Shared experiences of awe such as experiencing nature with loved ones, or attending a concert or sports match, create a sense of shared humanity. This feeling of connectedness has been shown to make people more generous, cooperative, and compassionate. This can even occur when awe is experienced in isolation, as awe itself reduces the sense to which we feel isolated or lonely by connecting us to something bigger than ourselves.
CALMING EFFECT
In addition to the cognitive, emotional, and social benefits of awe, experiences that inspire awe also have a literal physiological effect. Awe can activate the parasympathetic nervous system – the rest-and-digest counterpart to our fight-or-flight response. This lowers cortisol, blood pressure, and inflammation, calming us, and boosting our mood and immune function.
CULTIVATING AWE
With all these benefits of awe, it makes sense that humans have always created opportunities for experiencing it. Early humans gathered together around fire, looked up at the stars together, and honoured rituals together – all exercises in tribal cohesion and resilience. It’s entirely possible that awe as an emotion may have evolved as a way of helping us bond in groups and orient around shared purpose.
While there are lots of ways to cultivate awe – and you will find your own strategies that work for you – getting out into nature in some form or other is generally the most accessible. For most of us, nature is available daily, provided we learn how to tune into it.
We can experience the vastness of nature any time we stand at the edge of the ocean, a canyon, or a mountain ridge. If you can, go where the sky is big. While those experiences may not be accessible on an everyday basis, taking in a sunset or sunrise, or looking up at the night sky often is. Especially if you’re lucky enough to live in a dark sky area (where there’s little to no light pollution). Even though I live in a major city, I try to take in a sunset or sunrise (or both) most days. And I still love to lay out in my backyard on a clear evening and stare up at the stars. Shooting stars never lose their novelty for me.
Witnessing the power of nature is awe-inspiring in and of itself. Taking in the raw energy of a waterfall, the raging torrent of a river, or the crashing ocean surf is humbling and exciting. I personally love a good tropical summer storm, especially if I’m by the ocean and can watch the storm roll in across the waves.
Just slowing down and paying attention makes a difference. Awe is often hiding in the details we usually ignore, so zooming in to notice the veins on a leaf, the structure of a spider’s web, or the way the light changes through late afternoon and into dusk can transform the ordinary into something extraordinary. Allow yourself to feel childlike wonder. If you’re able to change your vantage point, even better. Hiking to a higher elevation and looking down at your familiar surrounds or lying down to look up at your surrounds can make the familiar feel new and vast.
Fully engaging your senses allows you to get to know the world around you through your embodied self, not just your cognitive self (see previous post for why that’s important).
Listen out for birdsong, or the sound of flowing water or the wind in the trees. Smell the waft of eucalyptus or pine in a warm summer evening, inhale the salty air by the ocean, or notice the scent of petrichor on rain-soaked earth. The more you engage your senses, the stronger your sense of awe will be.
I try to do this when I go for my evening walk, taking in the experience through my five senses. I don’t always engage fully, but when I do, I notice how quickly it calms my mind and disengages me from whatever it is that can, and should, wait til later for my attention.
AWE-HACKING
Whatever it is you’re able to do to get out into nature – even if it’s only visiting a nearby park or strolling through a greener part of the area you live in – there are a few ways you can hack your mind to experience awe.
Share the experience to cultivate collective wonder and a bonding experience.
Reflect on what makes you feel small:
This mountain has stood for millions of years and has seen more change than I can fathom.
This tree has lived longer than my oldest living relatives. I wonder what secrets it would whisper to me if I were to listen closely?
This land was walked by my ancestors, and I’m living proof of their resilience.
Spending time in nature disrupts routine thinking and forces us into the present moment. The shift in our attention and focus on scale that produces awe also reframes our experience. And this can have a lasting effect beyond the experience itself.
Try to do something small every day. Daily awe keeps you grounded and present.
Try to get out beyond your familiar surrounds once in a while, if you can. Weekly or monthly awe refreshes your perspective and interrupts stress cycles.
And, if you can, try to take in something truly spectacular at least once a year. Seasonal or annual awe resets your identity in the bigger picture, giving you meaning and humility to carry into life’s challenges.
Speaking of the spectacular, here’s a few photos from my trip to the US in August (apologies for my shoddy iPhone-tography; I have other skills). I had the insane privilege of road-tripping around Utah and across the border to Arizona, and taking in some of the most spectacular sights Mother Nature has crafted (and clearly I like big rocks and I cannot lie…). I’m still filled up with awe.
