“The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the power of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead.”
- Albert Einstein
- Albert Einstein
Spring is one of my favorite seasons. I am mystified by the spring bulb leaves poking up resulting in delightful blossoms, by the budding and unfolding of leaves on bushes and trees, by the greening of grass, by the quick growth of the perennial hollyhock deep green leaves and catmint clumps bordering the south side of my house.In short, I am in awe of the miracle of new growth and new beginnings.
“Anything can happen, and anything does.”
Turns out that awe is an especially good-for-you emotion.
**Awe contributes to BETTER HEALTH: less chronic inflammation in the body means less achiness, less susceptibility to disease, less acceleration of aging.
The study. In the research study published in January 2015 in the journal Emotion, and reported on in this Well Column, researchers - from the University of California, Berkeley, and other institutions - tested 94 college freshmen first, and then another 119 for a more specific look at discrete positive emotions.
The 94 students filled out questionaires on various positive and negative emotions during the past month. They supplied saliva samples that the researchers analyzed for interleukin-6 (IL-6), a cytokine (chemical-signaling molecule) known to promote inflammation throughout the body. Inflammation is tied to poor health, so the researchers hypothesized that low levels of IL-6 might signal good health.
The 119 students completed questionaires about their normal disposition and the extent to which they had recently felt seven specific emotions: awe, amusement, compassion, contentment, joy, love, and pride. They also provided saliva samples that were analyzed for IL-6.
What the study found. In the first (94 students) study those who experienced more positive emotions generally had lower levels of IL-6 than classmates whose moods were more sour.
In the second (119 students) study, happy moods were collectively still associated with low IL-6 levels, with the strongest correlation to awe. In the researchers’ words, “We also explored the relationship between discrete positive emotions and IL-6 levels, finding that awe, measured in two different ways, was the strongest predictor of lower levels of proinflammatory cytokines.”
Senior author of the study and faculty director of the greater Good Science Center at Berkeley, Dacher Keltner, says that in general, a primary attribute of an awe-inspiring event is that it “will pass the goose-bumps test.”
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” - W.B. Yeats
**Awe calls forth COOPERATION AND KINDNESS.
This article by Dacher Keltner mentions research findings that awe even leads people to cooperate, share resources, and sacrifice for others; it calls forth a less narcissistic self, enabling greater kindness toward others.
Want AWE?
Do you, like me, want to be intentional about fostering a feeling of awe more often? Awe-eliciting stimuli expands the observer’s usual frame of reference; awe is a perception of greatness outside of oneself, an awareness of vastness. It is a pausing, and an opening of your mind to the things not understood.
Following are a few ideas to cultivate awe:
- Enjoy the beauty of nature: watch the sunset in its array of colors, notice the spring unfolding in all its glory, listen to thunder with wonder, look at the night sky with its marvel of lights
- Go to an art museum and appreciate the skill of the artist
- Listen to and let yourself be moved by music
- Notice the epiphanies that come: good ideas, new discoveries, little surprises
- Experience the sacred during prayer or meditation
- Be compassionate and receive compassion: notice kind actions
- Take note of anyone standing up to injustice
- Appreciate accomplishments of others and your own: isn’t it a miracle that we are born, that we grow and heal, that we can do, that we can think, that we can remember?
“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.” –Psalm 139:14
On the sidewalk quotes in our town I came across one that said, “Don’t be afraid to let your mind w_nder.” I couldn’t tell immediately if it was an “a” or an “o” after the “w.” Upon studying it, I determined the word was “wander” but I walked away wishing it said, “let your mind wonder.”
Wonder, synonymous with awe, is a grand idea.
Let your mind wonder. Be in awe.
Yes, that’s my wish and blessing for this month. May you wonder. May you be in awe. May you be well.
“All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.”
“The answer must be, I think, that beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there.”
Look and See
This morning, at waterside, a sparrow flew
to a water rock and landed, by error, on the back
of an eider duck; lightly it fluttered off, amused.
The duck, too, was not provoked, but, you might say, was
laughing.
This afternoon a gull sailing over
our house was casually scratching
its stomach of white feathers with onepink foot as it flew.
Oh Lord, how shining and festive is your gift to us, if we
only look, and see.
- Mary Oliver, Why I Wake Early
“The might of your awesome deeds shall be proclaimed, and I will declare your greatness.”
– Psalm 145: 6
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