“How does awe transform us? By quieting the nagging, self-critical, overbearing, status-conscious voice of our self, or ego, and empowering us to collaborate, to open our minds to wonders, and to see the deep patterns of life.”
Dacher Keltner, Awe: The Transformative Power of Everyday Wonder
This podcast is for you, but it’s also for me
I can’t speak for you, but I know that I need more wonder in my life. When I pay attention, I find awe and wonder in things like birds, beautiful music, people who inspire me, and so many other parts of life that are easy to overlook, take for granted, or even dislike (insects are fascinating and can inspire wonder if we let them). My mood can improve drastically by just paying attention to some of these things for a short time.
Maybe I wouldn’t need these reminders in the ideal world, but in this real world I do. With all the depressing things going on, it’s extra depressing to feel like there’s so little I can control…but I can do something by sharing some moments of wonder with you — and having them for myself — and maybe that can inspire someone to make a difference in their own way.
I spend a lot of time on my computer and phone, like so many of us. It’s not just doing the editing and writing work that I do, it’s the errands and tasks, setting up appointments, important things I have to buy online, and keeping in touch with family and friends. And don’t get me started on the message notifications and all the other ways technology tries to pull our attention away from what we really care about, even when we try to set good boundaries.
This is all part of normal life these days, and there’s a lot to be grateful for…but it doesn’t feel all that inspiring, and it’s not the main point of life. So much of life these days is on screens, and in little rectangles of people on those screens, and I’ve noticed that it’s very draining and sometimes rather depressing. When it gets really bad, I sometimes feel like that’s all my life is about, or that’s all I have time for.
For many people there’s also the relentless pace of modern life that keeps us from pausing to enjoy even the simplest things — the cliché about stopping to smell the roses. I’ve deliberately slowed things down in my life, but I still sometimes feel like my day is overscheduled, or I rush to an appointment as I walk quickly through the city, barely paying attention to anything I’m seeing along the way.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized how essential it is for me to take pauses and notice and reflect on things. But the typical suggestion to pause and take a few deep breaths isn’t enough for me. I also need to reflect on things I notice in my environment and feel connected to the larger world.
I think it’s about finding those things in the world, both near and far, that hold some sacredness — and considering how things are connected and how everything comes from somewhere. I’m inspired by this quote from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s beautiful book Braiding Sweetgrass:
“What would it be like, I wondered, to live with that heightened sensitivity to the lives given for ours? To consider the tree in the Kleenex, the algae in the toothpaste, the oaks in the floor, the grapes in the wine; to follow back the thread of life in everything and pay it respect? Once you start, it’s hard to stop, and you begin to feel yourself awash in gifts.”
I know that all sorts of things are happening outside my little world, and everything in my immediate environment is connected to many other things. I need to learn about and engage with those things, and I’m curious about and interested in almost everything.
How can wonder and awe help?
It’s not just about self-help or personal improvement. This is important: I really believe the world needs us to hone our sense of wonder. If we’re always focusing inward or just checking things off our endless to-do lists, how can we attend to the things outside of ourselves that need our energy? I feel this way, at any rate.
I realize the world is full of problems, and this podcast and its messages won’t change the world. But it’s a little thing I can give…and I do believe the world would be a better place if everyone cultivated a positive sense of wonder and awe.
By the way, I’ll use the words “wonder” and “awe” interchangeably, although “awe” feels like a stronger, more powerful word to me. (Of course I’m not talking about “shock and awe” or the negative connotations of that word, like being in awe of a bomb or dictator or anything like that. This is intended to be positive stuff, and I assume you will take it that way.)
Who are my influences?
Of course, I’m not the only one talking about these things. To start, see psychologist Dacher Keltner’s book Awe: The Transformative Power of Everyday Wonder. He’s a psychology professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and has studied awe and wonder for a long time. He writes, “Awe brings us joy, meaning, and community, along with healthier bodies and more creative minds.” Keltner’s research shows that awe can improve our mood, overall health, and critical thinking; make us less materialistic and more humble, generous, and cooperative; make us feel like we have more time; and help us connect to other people and humanity as a whole.
In his book, he talks about the “eight wonders of life”:
- the strength, courage, and kindness of others
- collective movement in actions like dance and sports
- nature
- music
- art and visual design
- mystical encounters
- encountering life and death
- big ideas or epiphanies
Here are a few more definitions of wonder and awe that I like:
“University of Michigan psychologist Ethan Kross defines awe as ‘the wonder we feel when we encounter something powerful that we can’t easily explain.’ Often the things which bring us awe have an element of vastness and complexity. Think of a starry night sky, an act of great kindness, or the beauty of something small and intricate. During your workday the colors of the leaves outside your office or an act of sacrifice by a colleague could prompt a similar feeling — especially if you are attuned to it.” https://hbr.org/2021/08/why-you-need-to-protect-your-sense-of-wonder-especially-now
“Jane Goodall, a hero of mine, believed that chimpanzees feel awe and have a sense of spirituality grounded in a capacity Goodall describes as being amazed at things outside yourself.” (Keltner, Dacher. Awe (p. xxv). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.)
“The most wonderful thing about wonder is that it knows no scale, no class, no category — it can be found in a geranium or in a galaxy, in the burble of a brook or in the Goldberg Variations. ‘A leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the stars,’ wrote Walt Whitman, eternal patron saint of wonder.” (from the lovely blog The Marginalian: https://www.themarginalian.org/2023/07/06/hermann-hesse-wonder-butterflies/)
“Rachel Carson knew it when she insisted that the greatest gift a parent can give a child is ‘a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.’” (from The Marginalian: https://www.themarginalian.org/2023/07/06/hermann-hesse-wonder-butterflies/)
Why nine minutes?
Each episode will be around nine minutes. You don’t need more than that, and you probably feel that you don’t have more than that to spare.
I’ll share many examples of things I find wonder- or awe-inspiring, and I’ll invite you to see your surroundings in new ways. I’ll do it with you — this is a challenge for me too, as it’s so easy to slip back into the uncomfortable comfort zone of autopilot and rote tasks and behaviors, without noticing the wonders of life.
I’ll still have to do the tasks, chores, and work, but I’m on a mission to find the wonder and awe in my life again.
I really love to travel, so that may be part of this search, but it’s mainly about finding the wonder and awe in things nearby. You don’t need money or a lot of time to experience wonder and awe.
To be clear, I don’t mean to say that everything is full of awe and wonder — I supposed there’s that potential in most things, but I’m not trying to live my life as if I’m on a constant psychedelic high or always finding beauty and joy in a weird or fake way. That’s not me at all! But just a little a day can go a long way.
If you can relate to this at all, I hope this podcast will inspire you (and me).
So please stay tuned!