The Wonder Catalyst

Are you trying to find your awe in midlife? Experiencing everyday wonder can help us see that we’re part of something bigger. It is an essential human emotion. Science shows that wonder can quiet our inner critic, reduce stress, loneliness, and physical distress, and bring a sense of expanded time, perspective, and connection. The sense of wonder is the ability to be present to the world and touched by that world. Sometimes we have to step aside from the human matrix, to pierce the bubble that encapsulates us, to reacquaint ourselves with all the Others, and to be reminded of the larger tapestry into which we are woven. What are the 6 Ways to Find Your Awe in Midlife? Let’s first take a look at how our sense of awe in a child was very prevalent.

“Wonder is the first of all passions.” – Aristotle

A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us, that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. Living as we do in an almost exclusively human-centric/human-made bubble, we forget how to truly see the world outside, a world which is turned into material objects – natural “resources” – under our gaze. We forget that, as animals, the world of nature is our home. We forget that we belong here. That forgetting has serious consequences, our human psychological health is endangered. When a significant aspect of our humanity is repressed, we fail to thrive. Something feels wrong or off.

How do we bring back the sense of wonder as we age? How do we use our sense of wonder to embrace this wild world again? Put yourself in a wilderness or semi-wilderness setting to find your humility. Humility is a necessary ingredient to the experience of wonder. Via our humility, via our smallness, the larger world reveals itself to us more fully. Practicing silence, solitude, and simplicity for days or weeks on end can change a person. Or, better put, it can help a person revive fundamental aspects of her humanity, long lost to consciousness throughout becoming an adult. One of the aspects that can be revived is the sense of wonder in the face of the natural world.

Ever have one of those moments where you witness something beautiful on your walk, or in a bird’s song, or a painting you walk by in a store? You stop, admire, and your sense of wonder overtakes your thoughts, if only for a very brief moment; “wow, how beautiful”, “how did that just happen?”, “How does that work?”, “Why is that color so vivid?”. Slowing down and reacquainting ourselves with our vast natural environment and its surroundings is an open invitation for our wonder to seep into our psyche and imagination.

Once we find our humility and a sense of wonder finds us, as adults, naturally, the emotion of awe will be present. Awe opens our minds to the truth that we as individuals are part of something much larger than the self. Experiences of awe activate the vagus nerve, which wanders from the top of your spinal cord through your throat, heart, lungs, and digestive organs. Awe slows your heart rate, orients your attention toward others, and prompts you to explore and engage with the world. Awe’s effects on the lacrimal glands (tear ducts) make our eyes well up with tears that studies find are accompanied by a sense of shared identity with others. Awe is associated with a goose-tingling sensation in your arms and at the back of your neck. Awe is a basic state of mind, a primary form of consciousness. We can find it readily. There is everyday awe to enjoy.

“If you can’t be in awe of Mother Nature, there’s something wrong with you.” – Alex Trebek

Cultivating experiences of awe is especially important and helpful now as we renew our energy and make plans for a more hopeful future. Awe encourages us to feel connected to others by moving our focus outward. The experience of awe encourages creativity by requiring us to step into uncertainty and recalibrate our understanding of the world. Therefore, awe may be a key to sparking innovation and human progress. These experiences evoke wonder and amazement. They aren’t just pleasurable, they’re transformative, encouraging us to contemplate the meaning of life and see ourselves as part of a larger picture.

The benefits of awe are all well and good, but how often can we reap those benefits? How often do we get to have the types of experiences that inspire awe? More often than you might think. We don’t need to be standing at the peak of Mt. Everest to feel awe and reap its benefits. We can get a bit of that right here at home, just by walking out our front doors or clicking the right buttons on our computer.

Where Wonder Leads to Awe – 6 Ways to Find Awe:

1. Take a hike on a challenging path.

The key ingredient in awe is a sense of vastness. A feeling that you are looking at something immense, and much larger than yourself. If you have a nearby trail you can hike on the weekends, or a skyscraper you can visit, take a day to go to the top and admire the view. Nature is an immersive experience of growth and resilience; it can be a powerful source of wonder and awe.

2. Choose to Read an Inspiring Book or Article from a Magazine

Vastness isn’t just about physical size—it can also be about someone’s immense talents. Reading stories about people who have done amazing things in history or the present day can inspire awe. Of course, reading about people who have accomplished a lot can have the unpleasant side effect of making us feel bad in comparison, so take care not to let the inspiring stories you read bring you down. Instead, focus on the stories you know that you will find inspiring, whether it’s a brief news article, a biography about a historical great, or the tale of an amazing invention.

3. Scroll through your trip photos on your phone or photo album

Have you gone somewhere awe-inspiring before? Did you take photos of the trip? Taking an evening to go back through those old photos will not only inspire awe, but they will also inspire happiness and many other positive emotions—joy, pride, gratitude, and nostalgia. Even better—if you had companions on the trip, look at the photos with them and retell your tales.

4. Plan a Day Adventure and Explore!

It can be difficult to feel a lot of awe towards the same old sights you see every day, even if they are beautiful. But you don’t have to go far to find something new. Go for a walk in a different neighborhood in your city, or visit a museum you haven’t visited before. Being a tourist in your city can open up your eyes to wondrous new experiences. And you might feel a second helping of amazement when you realize that something awesome was just down the street and you had no idea.

5. Hang Out with a Child

The world is new, vast, and awe-inspiring for children. Spending time with little kids is an immersion in awe—each of the little things we take for granted—water! music! trees! inspires awe in them. And being around them, you can’t help but catch a bit of that awe yourself. Children are also awe-inspiring because they are learning and growing so quickly! We are an amazing species.

6. Watch Planet Earth or a Travel Show

If you haven’t watched the BBC series, Planet Earth, you should put it in your queue. The sweeping scenes of our home planet can inspire even the most stoic. Brief clips of this series are often used to elicit awe in the lab. Watch it on the biggest screen you can. And it doesn’t have to be Planet Earth. Try viewing awe-evoking images of the sky and space from the NASA Photojournal site and the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day site. Thanks to the internet, many awe-inspiring videos are just a click away—people overcoming challenges, amazing nature scenes, stunning photography.

We must continue to navigate our environment, accepting our openness to experiences and passion for the world around us, always being on the lookout for the presence of wonder, big or small. Perhaps someday in the future, we all will go beyond saying, “Look at the moon!” and travel there to experience the ultimate awe-elicitor.