Wild Wonder and Everyday Awe

"It is hard to imagine a single thing you can do that is better for your body and mind than finding awe outdoors." —Dacher Keltner

A recent social media post highlighted a UC Berkeley study that looked at seven positive emotions to see which one had the strongest effect on the body's immune system. What's amazing is that positive emotions like joy, love, and gratitude didn't come out on top.

The single emotion that led to the lowest levels of inflammation and disease-causing cytokines was AWE. Even more telling, out of the eight categories of awe identified by researchers, the wild awe of being in nature had the biggest impact of all.

I don't want to get too deep in the weeds here, because there have been countless studies and writings on this topic since the time of ancient Greece. I just want to take a moment to breathe in and acknowledge that being in nature and finding awe is profoundly important.

Personally, I prefer to focus on WONDER, and the all-encompassing everyday wonder at everything that's beautiful, excellent, and beyond our comprehension. I see wonder as an effortless, ongoing practice, while awe feels more like a peak experience that we have to strive for. Or, at least, that's how I see this, and I'm curious how you view WONDER and AWE?

After seeing this social media post, I tracked down Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life by Dacher Keltner, a lead researcher on the studies at UC Berkeley. In his book, Keltner describes in more detail how our bodies respond to nature by releasing hormones like oxytocin and dopamine.

Wonder and awe are the emotions that we experience when we are humbled by something bigger than ourselves, something that takes us away from the narrow, self-reflexive ego side of our minds and connects us to a larger web.

It makes sense that we feel awe in the presence of nature, but I was surprised to read in Keltner's book that while awe in nature has the biggest impact on us, the number one type of awe felt by people all over the world is our awe of moral beauty. We are all deeply touched when we experience acts of kindness, courage, and gratitude in others.

I love this because awe and wonder are qualities that we practice and cultivate whenever we intentionally find, recognize, and take pleasure in the existence of goodness in the world around us. It reminds me that I want to recognize and honor moral beauty and the natural world with every moment of my life.

In a way, these newsletters are an extension of my sense of awe and wonder. And with every newsletter, these are the foremost qualities I try to connect with and share with you. Maybe I'm a nerd, but even technical science stories that shine a light on the world around us fill me (and I hope you) with awe and wonder.

One thing that Keltner and his team have found is that even five minutes of awe and wonder will impact your well-being and immune system for days. So, on this lovely spring day, let's all get out there and practice some awe and wonder. Notice the touch of a surface, a passing scent, a beam of light, an angle and shadow, or a flight of birds. The world and all the beings in it are a bit of magic today!