Filled With Awe
In our current digital age, we are consistently confronted with news notifications, social images, and cultural markets that fascinate and distract. Throughout the past couple years, we have watched the world weather viral flares amid a pandemic, fight wars in geopolitical shifts, and lose sentimentality to public injustices. We spend much of our day in the same place engaging in the same routine. Consequently, we tend to feel uninspired, overwhelmed, and burnt out.
While we often blame our unhappiness on outside circumstances, there is reason to believe that much of this distress has been self-inflicted. In their aptly titled study, “A wandering mind is an unhappy mind,” Harvard researchers Killingsworth and Gilbert used a phone app to randomly record what participants’ minds were focused on in a specific moment. By simultaneously tracking what participants were doing and how they were feeling, they were able to correlate how certain behaviors and patterns of thinking can influence how we feel. They found that the average person spends about 47% of their day on “autopilot”- engaging in automated behaviors while our minds are preoccupied with different topics.
This can be comparable to driving somewhere and taking a wrong turn because you regularly go a different way. Not only that, but participants reported being significantly less happy during the moments in which they reported their mind wandering. Essentially, they were spending almost half their day on autopilot and feeling unhappier as a result. You can read more about mind-wandering behavior and developing inner focus here.
If you were asked what the sky looked like this morning or what was on the walls in the entryway to your school building, would you be able to accurately report out?
Be it absorbed on a screen or lost in a sea of thoughts, we might be missing out on the full experience of the present moment more often than we realize.
How can we counteract the negativity that often floods our social media feed and the disturbing images that we see on TV? How can we begin to become more present and actively cultivate more positive emotions? And how do we step away from a culture that is focused on to-dos and deadlines and rekindle a sense of wonder and awe?
Finding moments of respite from our thoughts can be a powerful source of calm in the frenzy. One of the most powerful ways to increase your connection with the present moment may be embracing an attitude and a practice of mindfulness. An aspect of mindfulness often overlooked is being observant of the images and experiences we are bringing into our lives.
Sometimes it feels as if life is just happening to us, when in reality, we are crafting and curating our lives on a daily basis.
Are you choosing to start your day on a screen (checking emails, scrolling feeds) or are you choosing to open the window and spend a few moments looking outside? If you choose the first option (which many of us would), could there be a difference in your day if you spent that time instead noticing the clouds floating across the sky or the way the snow glistens in the sunlight? What if you could commit to spending the first five minutes of your day looking outside and just noticing?
Psychological research by Cupchik and Winston (1996) defined an “aesthetic experience” as one in which our attention is focused on one object while all other objects, events, and everyday concerns fade away. This is similar to the concept of flow, discussed in this post. Incorporating more aesthetically pleasing experiences into your day can help to create miniature moments of transcendence and allow for, even just a little bit more, joy and flow in your day.
Start with what you see.
What images are currently catching your attention? One practice that can generate more positive feelings in your day is to allow more opportunities to observe beauty.
Beauty is defined by the Merriam Webster dictionary as “the qualities in a person or thing that as a whole give pleasure to the senses.” Despite what mainstream media feeds us, beauty is not just for models or found in perfectly crafted photos. Beauty may be found in sad songs, rainstorms, in our family members’ faces, or in looking for helpers in the midst of hard times. Beauty is uniquely individualistic. What one person finds beautiful may not be what another person finds beautiful. Experiment with what brings “pleasure to the senses” for you.
Think about your social media feeds and notifications. What leaves you feeling good and what leaves you feeling poorly? Unsubscribe from channels and content makers that are not bringing you joy, and subscribe to more content that brings and celebrates beauty. Some ideas may include: classical works of art, animals, images of faraway places, nature photographs and videos, quotes, and even dance videos.
After losing a close family member during Covid, author Susan Cain decided to follow art accounts on Twitter. She asked for a few recommendations from friends and pretty soon her feed was filled with art. The artwork gave her something to look forward to each morning and allowed her to transcend from the “seen” world (her kitchen, daily chores) to the transcendent. In this way, she was able to find slivers of joy in the midst of sorrow. Now, she chooses a piece for each day along with a quote to share on her own feed in hope of inspiring others.
Inundating your account with beautiful images and removing things that diminish your joy will become one small way to make each scroll brighter. Beyond our screens, we can expand our search for beauty to the outside world with all of our senses.
Connect with Nature.
One of the most powerful ways to shift from a low mood state to a re-energized mind may be to get outside (and off our devices). There have been numerous research studies that have demonstrated the healing power of being in nature. Director at the University of Washington’s Environment and Well-Being Lab, Dr. Gregory Bratman, found in his research that more contact with nature is associated with increases in happiness, subjective well-being, positive affect, positive social interactions, a sense of meaning and purpose in life, as well as decreases in mental distress.
In a culture that immensely values productivity, one of the biggest hurdles to spending time in nature can be the sense that we should be doing something else. However, it is the slowing down that allows us to be more present, at rest, and focused. Ultimately this allows for more productivity later.
One study found that participants who consciously turned their attention toward something “bigger than (themselves)” during a 15-minute walk outdoors cultivated a sense of “awe” in the participants. This in turn increased positive, prosocial emotions, and reduced stress (Sturm et. al., 2020). These mental and physical improvements were found when participants walked for only 15 minutes once a week for 8 weeks, suggesting that it does not have to take a huge time commitment or life overhaul to reap similar benefits. Making the conscious decision to be in nature even for brief periods of time can make a big difference in your day.
As a daily practice, consider setting an alarm once or twice a day, with a reminder to “look up.” Some people may prefer to set an alarm to “get outside” or “move” and these prompts can yield a similar result. Pause what you are doing and look around. What can you see? What is happening in the sky? In all that you see, what is most beautiful?
Use your senses.
Having a more fulfilling life can start with small, intentional efforts to create more opportunities for beauty, wonder and awe. Instead of allowing your day to just happen to you, ask yourself:
What do I want to see?
What do I want to smell?
What do I want to listen to?
What do I want to eat?
What is my most beautiful place right now?
Seeking beauty might take place in the little moments: lighting a candle, taking a hot shower or learning how to make a foam heart to top your latte. On other days, it might look like stepping out of your comfort zone and trying something new. Take the time to do something unrelated to productivity or a specific outcome. This could be visiting a museum, seeing a play, listening to live music, taking a road trip to a new destination, trying a new restaurant, or going shopping at a local artisan’s store. While there, take a break from your smartphone and be present. Notice the small details, take in the sights, sounds, and smells. What does it feel like in your body to be in this location and experience? Becoming actively engaged in the process of seeking and noticing beauty can help us find moments of awe in the midst of the mundane.
We all walk through the world seeking information about others and wanting knowledge about ourselves. It can be impactful and powerful to look for the good. Seek beauty and richness in the everyday things that you see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. Life itself becomes a little more beautiful in the journey.
- Erin Risler, School Counselor
