The Importance of Daily Awe

Every spring, I notice that the first day of class has completely different energy than the first day of class in the fall semester. Part of me wonders why. For every student, the schedule, the routine of each day, and the amount of clothes needed to stay warm is new. The truth is, our students who were here in the fall know where to go, they know where the buildings are for class – it’s just a new path through a familiar place. I enjoy that familiarity, and I know students do too. Being new means that everything requires your full attention and that can be overwhelming. Sometimes familiar patterns can turn into ruts, and ruts can mean that we may fail to notice the world around us. Failing to notice what is around us can mean we miss out on an important healthy habit that can support our well-being.

In a recent article Hope Reese wrote in the New York Times, “How a Bit of Awe Can Improve your Health,” I was intrigued by her points about the role of awe in our lives and its importance to our well-being. She quotes Dacher Keltner, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who describes awe “as the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your understanding of the world.” In our daily routine, it can be impossible for anything to penetrate the familiarity of a packed schedule. But when I take a moment, I can think of several moments in my life where I felt awe. There are the expected moments — holding my kids for the first time, those evenings when I am able to pause and catch the sunset over the Blue Ridge Mountains, and every graduation and wedding. In those moments I feel truly alive and present and that I am part of a moment where something bigger is happening. Prior to reading this article, I always contemplated the emotion of awe in the really big moments that I described above – the ones that don’t happen very frequently. I never contemplated what experiencing daily awe might be like. This is important because research shows that when we experience awe, oxytocin is released in our bodies, which helps calm us and produces feelings of trust in those around us. Pondering moments of awe quiets our minds, and pulls us out of our own heads.

This is particularly important as the spring semester is underway. I know that as you engage with your students between now and spring break, the demands of academics, the pull of all of the events that are part of campus life, work obligations, and planning for the future may feel like it leaves your student little time to do anything other than focus on what is imminent. I hope that when you talk to your students that you will talk about what it would be like to have a daily practice where we look for moments of awe around us.

So, how do we experience daily awe? Reese describes a practical process, based in research, that can help us experience awe and reap positive benefits. Here are some places where it might be waiting for us. First, we can look at nature. We can walk a different route and instead of looking at our phones when we walk, we look around at the beauty of our surroundings that is waiting for us to simply notice. Second, we can look for the goodness in other people, in their daily acts of generosity and kindness. If we notice, we can feel a sense of connection to them and enhance our desire to bring that similar feeling of awe to others. This may include noticing how friends and classmates support one another or maybe reading a book or watching a documentary about people who built their lives around serving others. It seems that the power of awe is in the seeking and then, the noticing — experiencing the feeling that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. Maybe then we can step outside of the things that are creating pressure and worry, and instead put ourselves mindfully in the moment of all of the good around us.

Being open to the awe-inspiring moments of daily life can be enlightening to each of us as we press toward our goals. I find awe in our students, faculty, and staff who live our motto Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), in the ways they study, work, serve, and build community every day.