Awe by Dacher Keltner, founder of the The Greater Good Science Center, is a wonderful book.
In it, he cites research on the mental health benefits of experiencing awe, as well as the physical benefits. Saying this actually doesn’t do the book justice. It’s way more than that. He tells heart warming personal stories as well as stories of others around the transformative power of awe.
Dr. Keltner describes 8 sources of awe, including “moral beauty” which is when we behold another acting in admirable ways, such as an act of kindness, bravery, or generosity. This is why it’s so important to both intentionally seek out such stories, share these kinds of stories at work to boost morale, and look for opportunities to model such behavior.
Of course, being in nature and experiencing natural beauty is one of the eight.
Reading this reminds me of the concept of Powerups as an emotional wellbeing and resilience enhancing tool that I learned about from Jane McGonigal’s fantastic book SuperBetter.
By actively seeking out experiences that bring us awe, by being more tuned into simple little micro opportunities to experience awe (like appreciating a bird song or having a fun interaction with a clerk vs. stonily waiting for your items to be rung up)…
… we can experience more awe and therefore bring more vitality and good cheer into our lives.
Doing this also makes our nervous system more hardy, according to the work of Stephen W. Porges, developer of Polyvagal Theory and co-founder of the Polyvagal Institute.
His research has shown that microbursts of positive emotion strength vagal tone, which is a powerful indicator of our ability to withstand the “slings and arrows” of every day life. (I learned this in Super Better).
Thus, inviting more awe into our lives has huge benefits, both physically and emotionally.
So…bring on the awe!
- Practice being more present to the “little moments” of sacredness in everyday life.
- Put yourself in natural settings of raw beauty whenever possible.
- Intentionally seek out stories of kindness, compassion, courage, and hope (I’ve included links to two of my posts of such stories).
If you want a short summary on Dacher Keltner’s research on awe, here’s a link.
Other posts by David Lee
That Little Bit of Kindness You Might Give
How Betty the Shelter Dog Taught Me About Hope
About the author: David Lee is a career coach, author, speaker, with a passion for storytelling that uplifts and teaches.
