The epiphany of awe

I am what some might call a prairie chick. Well, maybe I am a hen now. And yes, I know it isn’t exactly PC to relate myself to a bird- the poor chickens 😉What I mean by this statement is that I was raised on the Canadian Prairie. For those of you living in Canada or have seen any documentary on breadbaskets of the world, you will know that the prairies are vast and expansive. Looking out onto the horizon is liking looking out to sea. Growing up, I thought that things couldn’t get much bigger or better. That is until I saw the mountains.

When I was eighteen years old, I went on a holiday to the Canadian Rockies to visit a friend who was working in a fancy hotel. It was my first vacation without my parents and there was definitely a feeling of freedom. However, nothing could have prepared me for the visceral reaction of seeing the scale of the towering peaks. Not figuratively, but literally, my jaw dropped. I was awestruck. I remember thinking, ‘Oh, this is what the word awesome means’. It was also the first time I felt God, Mystery, or the reality that there is something beyond me and the world in which I had been living. It was such a strong somatic knowing that I have never forgotten it. It completely changed my worldview and the choices that I made and continue to make. In short, it introduced me to the concept of possibility in a way that nothing had before. With mountains this beautiful and soaring, everything is possible.

After years of travelling and seeing new things, thinking new thoughts, experiencing new sensations, I was transported back to that initial feeling of awe early last year. My husband was unwell and hospitalised for months on end. On this particular day, he was out on a day pass and had come home. When it came time to bring him back up to the hospital, our spirits were low. That’s when it happened.

In the car and on the drive back, the roads were wet. It was a post rain shower happening where the clouds had cleared and bright blue sky was being reflected on the sprawling tarmac in front of us. My husband turned to me and said, ‘the sky looks never ending’. We both stared out transfixed by the vista before us. Who knew such beauty could arrive on a motorway? This sparked a deep conversation of what we were witnessing.

Optical illusion or not, we were reminded in that moment that we don’t know where the sky ends or where the sky begins. We were reminded of the mystery and the reality that there are things that we just don’t have answers to. And it’s in the not knowing that possibility exists. We both felt that same primal sense of awe. Our perspective shifted, and in a blink of an eye, our horizons expanded. Most importantly, we took great comfort in this new glimmering.

Why am I writing about awe? I am sure many of you have your own experiences that are quite similar. Moreover, as I was developing curriculum this past week, I stumbled upon some research that spells out the importance of awe in our lives. For example, awe is classified as a complex emotion that challenges our preconceived notions. It can unstick us, connect us to something bigger than ourselves and encourage presence (mindfulness). It’s a magical tool that can lead to wellbeing and resilience.

Keltner and Haidt (2010) explain that awe inducing experiences have two specific  requirements to be considered awesome. There must be a sense of vastness and what they call a need for accommodation (NFA). This means that the experience is so profound that it simply cannot fit into our current mental structures. Our thinking processes need to shift and grow to accommodate what we have witnessed. Some might say that awe is a catalyst for personal epiphanies. Certainly, this was the case for my husband and I on the motorway.

So this week’s challenge is to take yourself out into the great yonder and find yourself some awe. If you’re not sure where to look, we can experience awe through star gazing, nature, looking at art, touching in with the accomplishments of those we admire (and our own!), and indeed spiritual ritual.

Who knows where we will end up and what epiphanies we might have?

-Jane

To join us this Tuesday at 10am for the Sanctuary’s online community meditation, click the link below. We will be doing a practice that resets our nervous system, priming us for being open to the everyday moments of awe that are available to us.

Click here to join me at the Sanctuary’s online meditation session on Tuesday morning at 10am

Click below to download a meditation designed to reset the. nervous system.