I recently facilitated a class at a retirement community around the topic of awe. When I asked for examples of awe experiences, tears came to my eyes multiple times as participants talked about how they felt when they saw newborn babies, watched their children get married, visited beautiful spots in nature, spent time with animals, viewed pieces of art, listened to music, and noticed the small things around them every day.
According to Greater Good in Action, awe is “a response to things that we perceive as vast and that transcend the way we understand the world.” Studies have found that awe increases our happiness, improves our physical health, makes us more generous, and reduces our feelings of entitlement.
The awe I experience at this time of year continues to surprise me. I’m surprised because each early spring feels like the first one I’ve ever seen. After a quiet winter of mostly browns and whites, spring arrives with such an amazing array of colors and life! Each bird song, each sprout, each bud, each flower, creates awe in me.
But it’s not just in spring, every season has its awe-inspiring moments. In fact, for the first time ever, this winter, the bare tree branches reaching towards the sky inspired me and the cold temperatures made me feel very alive. I do not know why these things changed, but I appreciated the renewing feelings generated within.
In the awe class I mentioned above, one participant shared that she believed awe was a choice. The science of Greater Good at Berkeley supports that notion with the “AWE” acronym. A is for “Attention” or being in the present moment with our full attention. W is for “Wait” or taking a pause to breathe and allow our minds to quiet. And E is for “Exhale and Expand” or relaxing through our exhales an amplifying the sensations of the experiences.
I am grateful that moments of awe come easily for me. People who consider themselves spiritual, find awe more readily. I agree with author Anne Lamott and the title of her book Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. Wow is something I often say both aloud and in written correspondence to describe my feelings of awe.
One year my kids bought me a necklace with the letters M-O-M contained with some silver glitter in a pendant. When the letters are right side up, it spells MOM and when they are upside it spells WOW – two of my favorite words. Being a mom has brought countless moments of awe and wow!
A piece of a poem that speaks to all of this comes from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Aurora Leigh.”
Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”
Aside from only using a masculine pronoun and the fact that I like blackberries, the overarching message resonates deeply with me. Awe is available everywhere.
