The Emotion of Awe
Article by Stefan Burns - Updated November 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!
There are many emotions that one can experience, happiness, joy, sadness, anger, fear, but one emotion people don’t often think about is awe. Being in a state of awe is an emotion, and it has been shown to have serious health benefits to spend time being overwhelmed in awe. The connection between awe and the improvement in well-being is easy to experience too.
Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, Africa
When something vastly larger than the self and not immediately understood becomes the center of attention, then a sense of awe is created. Human cultural activities such as music, art, or collective ceremonies can create a sense of awe. Nature can also create a sense of awe. For time immemorial, natural wonders like Yosemite, Victoria Falls, and Mt. Everest have struck people with awe and these wonders have created entire cultures based around them.
Changing your perception to be conscious of nature, therefore being aware of something much greater in scale than the self, has been shown to improve well-being, life satisfaction, mood, reduce hypertension, reduce anxiety, reduce depression and so much more. We’ll get into as many of the benefits as possible below.
Experiencing Awe
Experiencing awe is truly a remarkable phenomenon. First, consciousness is required. To simplify, there are two states of mind. One state of mind is behavior driven; without awareness and control you follow preprogrammed actions. The other state of mind is conscious; you are aware of all your senses and then freely choose your direction of action. Without elevating consciousness, you cannot experience a sense of awe, as you’ll be stuck in a state of behavior-driven actions.
Modern indoor day-to-day life reduces consciousness and creates behavior patterns. Constant advertising, propaganda, and emotional triggers bombard you, forcing you in a state of anxiety, fear, and stress. The environment you spend the most of your time in determines in large part your level of consciousness. To fix the problem and to elevate your consciousness, change your environment and put yourself into a reality that is much bigger than your current existence.
Astronauts are the most familiar with this effect. Dubbed the overview effect, when astronauts first glimpse the planet Earth floating in space, they become overawed by the fragility and unity of life on our blue planet. A sense of understanding the "big picture" overwhelms their consciousness.
Experience a sense of awe right. Learn of the overview effect, and how astronauts experience a profound change in their level of consciousness when seeing the planet from an outside perspective.
If you watched the video, you can reflect back that your sense of time expanded, you felt humbled, and during all this, your stresses and responsibilities which pull at your thoughts constantly were placed on hold as you reveled in the presence of magnificence. Experiencing the emotion of awe has profound and wide-reaching health benefits, and it’s free to do and only requires a conscious effort to experience.
Spend time in nature and you’ll begin to realize the truth that we are all continually interconnected with the earth and other lifeforms via two-way electromagnetic, chemical, and mechanical interactions (1). Electromagnetic grounding is a great example of this. Everything we experience via our five senses is created from external stimuli, and it is our senses and experiences that form the basis for our identity. Hold your breath for 3 minutes and very quickly you’ll realize that without the life-giving oxygen provided by the tree, you’ll die (2). Likewise, without the carbon dioxide that we produce, the tree cannot live.
Every organism and object on this planet is continually interacting with each other. By shifting the narrative of well-being away from the individual and instead expanding it to include the larger realm of the world, a more dynamic wellness relationship between self and world can be developed.
How can you be well if the environment you eat your food from is sprayed with toxins? How can you be healthy if the air we breathe is poisoned with gases, smog, and particulates? This concepts might appear obvious, but when in a state of reduced consciousness, they no longer become priority issues, and therefore nothing is changed.
Wellness Benefits of Awe
Experiencing a sense of awe will increase mindfulness of your surroundings, and this redirection of attention and energy from outward to inward can cause significant improvements in emotional well-being (3).
Spending more time in nature, naturally being at a higher level of consciousness and in a state of awe, has the following wellness improvements:
Improved:
Mental, physical, social, and spiritual well-being
Breathing
Confidence
Cardiovascular health
Personal growth
Nutrition
Awareness
Fitness
Reduced:
Depression
Anxiety
Stress
Fear
Loneliness
Pain
Distress
Hypertension
Blood pressure
Rewild Yourself
Here is your challenge, whether you are healthy or not, spend the next thirty days spending time in nature, 15 minutes minimum each day. The health and emotional benefits of 30 day rewilding programs have been studied, and the results are striking (9). Activities that you can do to accomplish this goal include going for a nature walk, gardening, embarking upon a hike, meditating by a vista, practicing yoga at a nearby park, or looking up at the stars. Even changing your indoor environment by being near a window to include outdoor vistas can improve your connection to nature and calm your mind.
When loosing touch with reality and your environment, pay attention to your senses. Notice the vibrant colors of the trees. Smell the fresh air, hear the sounds of the forest creatures. Feel the crunch of the leaves underfoot.
Seasonable variability can affect your results, but no matter the time of year, you should experience the profound wellness changes discussed above. If you want to connect with a community at the same time you embark upon your rewilding journey, connect with nature-focused community groups near you. Use platforms like Meetup to connect with others and the outdoors.
The best way to ensure you are privy to the consciousness expanding and wellness benefits of experiencing awe daily is to incorporate sending time in nature as part of your morning routine.
References:
Stevens P. Embedment in the environment: a new paradigm for well-being?. Perspect Public Health. 2010;130(6):265-9.
Sadhguru. Breath Bond. Sadhguru
Sturm VE, Datta S, Roy ARK, et al. Big smile, small self: Awe walks promote prosocial positive emotions in older adults. Emotion. 2020;
Shanahan DF, Astell-burt T, Barber EA, et al. Nature-Based Interventions for Improving Health and Wellbeing: The Purpose, the People and the Outcomes. Sports (Basel). 2019;7(6)
White, M.P., Alcock, I., Grellier, J. et al. Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing. Sci Rep 9, 7730 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44097-3
Yuen HK, Jenkins GR. Factors associated with changes in subjective well-being immediately after urban park visit. Int J Environ Health Res. 2020;30(2):134-145.
Barton J, Pretty J. What is the best dose of nature and green exercise for improving mental health? A multi-study analysis. Environ Sci Technol. 2010;44(10):3947-55.
Hunter MR, Gillespie BW, Chen SY. Urban Nature Experiences Reduce Stress in the Context of Daily Life Based on Salivary Biomarkers. Front Psychol. 2019;10:722.
Richardson M, Cormack A, Mcrobert L, Underhill R. 30 Days Wild: Development and Evaluation of a Large-Scale Nature Engagement Campaign to Improve Well-Being. PLoS ONE. 2016;11(2):e0149777.