One of my favorite Christmas gifts this year was a small, bound book entitled “One Line a Day.” The giver of this gift included a message regarding the difficult year it had been, and a comment from an article she read in The New York Times about “languishing.” One of the suggestions included in the article for combating “languishing” was to “savor and celebrate” small things. This little book offered me the opportunity to sit down each day and write something positive. I couldn’t wait to get started! Where would I find these doses of positivity? Having a 2-year-old grandson certainly gives me plenty of opportunities. But aside from that, where does one look? As it turns out, not very far.
Why Cultivate Awe?
Psychologist Dacher Keltner, the founding director of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California at Berkeley, has spent years studying the beneficial effects of awe on our physical, mental and emotional well-being. According to Keltner, “awe makes us curious rather than judgmental. It makes us collaborative. It makes us humble, sharing and altruistic. It quiets the ego so that you’re not thinking about yourself as much.” Awe is induced by the experiences that challenge and expand our typical way of seeing the world, often because we are in the presence of something greater than ourselves. According to Keltner, research suggests that experiencing awe improves people’s satisfaction with life, makes them feel like they have more time, makes them feel less self-conscious and reduces their focus on trivial concerns.
So how does one cultivate awe? Let’s try a little PDF – Playtime, Downtime and Family Time – also known as finding a way to get back in touch with our inner child. For me, a new box of crayons, the smell of cookies baking or a pair of ice skates takes me back to my childhood. The exhilaration of gliding over the ice with the wind in my face while wrapped in layers of wool inspires awe. Breathing in the crisp air, seeing the night sky, listening to the crackle of the ice underfoot is magical. The noise of the world around me seems to slow. So often our hours are filled with lists and highly structured or competitive activities that lead to a failure in awe.
Finding awe can include just finding time to allow for mystery, wonder and wandering. People commonly feel awe when they spend time in nature, when they listen to or make music, view or create art, contemplate big ideas, engage in meaningful rituals or participate in community gatherings. Noticing systems and patterns, such as with geese in flight or musical harmony, is another source of finding awe – allowing our minds to pick up interrelated systems or entities working together.
Sometimes reframing an experience can make an everyday activity a more healing one. For our culture, in this moment of climate crisis and stress and COVID-19, the most important message is, “How do I find awe right around me? Perhaps just by going on a walk. Get outside, pause, reflect, slow it down,” says Keltner. Choosing a different response to our stressors can open pathways to finding awe. Looking for and finding the awe around us helps with positivity. Rather than lamenting the 6 inches of snow that need shoveling in the driveway, we can find awe in the beauty of snow or by building a snowman with our children (or even on our own!). When was the last time you slid down a slide, listened to your favorite rock album or took a bubble bath?
So, what nuggets of awe have I cultivated for my “One Line a Day” book? Yesterday I found awe while walking the trails in Reston and happened upon a red fox just a few feet away. Another day it was watching an industrious squirrel busily gathering twigs and leaves to fortify his nest in a tree out my kitchen window. And just imagine the awe I experience while watching my 2-year-old grandson discover the world: bubbles, a shiny rock, his first snow and, best of all, hearing his giggle. Awe is all around us. All we need is to open our eyes and our hearts and let it in. What gems of awe will you write in your “One Line a Day” book?
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