Photo by: Jon Asato from Unsplash

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“The feeling of awe and sense of wonder arises from the recognition of the deep mystery that surrounds us everywhere.”

Anagarika Govinda

As social isolation continues, we at the Thrive Center want to continue to offer easy, free activities you can do at home—alone or with loved ones—to help you thrive. In previous posts, I wrote about activities that boost positive emotions, like happiness, as well as activities that buffer against stress and build resilience. Today, I want to talk about another important aspect of thriving: awe. While awe is considered a positive feeling, it’s a specific one. We feel awe underneath a starry sky in the woods or when we look into the seemingly endless depths of the ocean. We can even feel awe when we learn an amazing new theory about the world or have a profound spiritual experience. Awe is that feeling of recognizing the vastness of the world around you, and noticing that you are one piece of a big, beautiful, and complex system.

We believe this experience of awe—often elicited by beauty in nature—is an important aspect of thriving. Not only is awe associated with all the same benefits of positive emotions (such as decreased stress¹ and improved mental and physical health²), but awe has a few of its own, specific benefits. For one, awe can act as a buffer in times of loss³, something most of us wrestle with in this time of COVID-19. Awe may also help us reorder our priorities and recognize what is really important in our lives by connecting us to our own personal sense of spirituality and the world around us. This helps us feel more connected to the world, improves our sense of purpose⁴, and allows us feel less focused on our daily troubles⁵. This may be why awe also helps us feel more generous and willing to support those around us⁶. Lastly—and perhaps most relevant today as cabin fever creeps in—awe can actually reduce feelings of impatience⁷ and aggression⁸. So, if you’re feeling like you’re at your wit’s end, an awe activity may be just what the (academic) doctor ordered.

So, how can you create your own awe-full experiences at home? Here are 3 activities, backed by empirical research, that we think you should try:

Wherever you are, however close or far from nature you may be, seek out those things that make you feel a sense of awe. Whether it’s watching videos of the final frontier of space, the Irish cliffs of Moher, or walking down the street to look at the beauty of that old oak at the end of your block. When you take a moment to feel small, you may just find you also feel happy, connected, and more patient. In this time of COVID-19, we could all use a little more of that if we’re going to not just survive, but thrive.

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References

1. Gloria, Christian T., and Mary A. Steinhardt. “Relationships among positive emotions, coping, resilience and mental health.” Stress and Health 32.2 (2016): 145-156;

2. Howell, R. T., Kern, M. L., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2007). Health benefits: Meta-analytically determining the impact of well-being on objective health outcomes. Health Psychology Review, 1(1), 83-136.

3. Koh, A. H., Tong, E. M., & Yuen, A. Y. (2019). The buffering effect of awe on negative affect towards lost possessions. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 14(2), 156-165.

4. Krause, N., & Hayward, R. D. (2015). Assessing whether practical wisdom and awe of God are associated with life satisfaction. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 7(1), 51.; Saroglou, V., Buxant, C., & Tilquin, J. (2008). Positive emotions as leading to religion and spirituality. Journal of Positive Psychology, 3, 165–173. doi:10.1080/17439760801998737

5. Shiota, M. N., Keltner, D., & Mossman, A. (2007). The nature of awe: Elicitors, appraisals, and effects on self-concept. Cognition and emotion, 21(5), 944-963.

6. Prade, C., & Saroglou, V. (2016). Awe’s effects on generosity and helping. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 11(5), 522-530.

7. Rudd, M., Vohs, K. D., & Aaker, J. (2012). Awe expands people’s perception of time, alters decision making, and enhances well-being. Psychological science, 23(10), 1130-1136.

8. Yang, Y., Yang, Z., Bao, T., Liu, Y., & Passmore, H. A. (2016). Elicited awe decreases aggression. Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology, 10.

9. Passmore, H. A., & Holder, M. D. (2016). Noticing nature: Individual and social benefits of a two-week intervention. Journal of Positive Psychology, 12(6), 537-546.

10. Rudd, M., Vohs, K. D., & Aaker, J. (2012). Awe expands people’s perception of time, alters decision making, and enhances well-being. Psychological Science, 23(10), 1130-1136.

11. Rudd, M., Vohs, K.D., and Aaker, J. (2012). Awe expands people’s perception of time, alters decision making, and enhances well-being. Psychological Science, 23(10), 1130-1136.