Why experiencing awe can help you reduce work stress and create more time

The power of awe is something that I can definitely vouch for, having spent a couple of weeks roaming the canyons and arches of south western USA. What an amazing landscape, which such diversity of beauty. It absolutely took my breath away.

I tend to think 'awesome' is an overused word, but in this instance, I've giving it capitals! It was a truly AWESOME experience!!

And it had me back to thinking about the experience of awe, the ability to step away and detach fully from work and immerse yourself into something bigger and more wonderful than the usual everyday, and just how very powerful that is.

Yet, you don't necessarily have to leave home to experience awe, and it doesn't have to be a big experience. One of the ways to engender awe is to remind yourself of wonderful experiences and take yourself back into the feeling, as you can. So, forgive me while I eke out as much as I can from the experience I've just had, and hopefully sharing the images with you either evokes a little awe in you, or reminds you of the awesome places you have been, and/or reminds you to have yourself some awesome experiences soon!

How awe helps you to feel richer in time, and make better decisions

Most of us are feeling pretty time-poor, and that only seems to be getting worse.

Recent research shows that people who feel awe, relative to other experiences, also feel like they have more time available to them. As an added bonus, they are also less impatient than others. This research by Melanie Rudd and her colleagues offers some hope for stepping out of the relentless pace of work and commitments.

When people feel awe, it alters their subjective experience of time. Time feels like it expands. That's certainly a little different to what many people are feeling - that their time is shrinking and disappearing like pieces of confetti.

Experiencing awe brings people into the present moment, which is how it changes our perception of time.

The experience of awe can also change our decision making processes, including helping us to more willingly volunteer our time to help others.

This and other research suggests that it can also increase life satisfaction. In fact, Dacher Keltner identifies eight benefits that are gained from experiencing awe.

Check out the article for more, and for the research sources: in a nutshell they are:

1. Improves mood and increases satisfaction with life
2. Has health benefits (potentially reduces inflammation which is associated with many chronic diseases)
3. Seems to help increase critical thinking (the good kind!)
4. May decrease materialism
5. Increases humility
6. Expands perception of time, and increases the chances you will volunteer your time
7. Makes you more generous and cooperative
8. Makes you feel more connected to others and to humanity as a whole

If your life feels packed with too much stress, there's never enough time in your day, you might think that adding in some awe is a difficult challenge, perhaps even a luxury you don't have time for. I hope this article helps you to rethink that. It has great benefits, and while there are big, out of the ordinary ways to experience awe, such as visiting amazing places in different countries, the research suggests that we can also experience awe in everyday circumstances.

How to experience more awe in your everyday life

You don’t have to go to amazingly wonderful places to experience awe, although that helps! However, you do need to experience it regularly. People who gain the benefits mentioned above, experience awe several times a week. How can you join them?

The eight wonders of life

Dacher Keltner identifies eight ways to increase your experience of awe:

1. Observe someone's moral beauty, courage, incredible skill or unique abilities: depending on your preferences, reread King's 'I have a dream speech', watch a trapeze artist fly through the air, replay a movie about a scientific breakthrough.
2. Move together with others: synchronised movement, including dancing, singing, playing music, cheering a sports team, walking in step with a friend strengthens ties between people and can evoke awe.
3. Get out in nature - I think I've said enough about that already!
4. Listen to or create music, especially pieces that are exceptionally beautiful or emotive.
5. Visit art galleries or museums - which you can do online as well as in person - and those works that are particularly large, detailed, intricate or complex seem to have the greatest effect.
6. Spiritual or religious experiences, as well as meditation, can evoke awe.
7. Think about a 'big idea'. This deepens your thinking and helps you to wonder about the world and its possibilities, and also helps to increase a sense of discovery.
8. Contemplating or witnessing life, death, birth may be difficult, but they are often particularly powerful.

Not everyone experiences awe in the same way, or for the same reasons. Experiment with the ones that seem to work best for you, and don't be bothered if some don't.

You don't need to see a rainbow over the Grand Canyon to experience awe, but I can pretty much guarantee you will if you do! At one stage there were three rainbows, which had me and the crowd around me oohing and aahing in synchronised wonder. Breathtaking!

#awe #stress #burnout #timemanagement #wonder #worklifebalance