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“In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.”
– Pico Iyer
Spring has arrived, and with it an uprising energy of new growth , warmer days and for many of us more activity and motion than we had in the winter months. Every spring, I need to remind myself to keep one toe in the energy of yin; a quiet stillness of “being” so as not to become unbalanced as my other foot moves quickly into the yang energy of “doing” and more activity. These two energies of Yin (stillness) and Yang (active movement ) are completely intertwined and a part of us as well as an integral aspect of nature. One is not good and the other bad but when they become unbalanced, we can find ourselves feeling more stress and less grounded.
When we are busy and caught up in the daily grind of life and distracted easily we miss sacred opportunities to notice and feel a sense of awe.
Awe typically involves a sense of wonder, reverence, and humility in the face of something grand or beyond ordinary comprehension. It can be elicited by experiences such as encountering natural wonders or witnessing small acts of kindness. Anything that takes us outside of our own current state or condition and allows us to see the connection to something larger than ourselves could be considered ‘awe-inspiring, When I find myself rushing to complete tasks or get things done in a hurry I don’t notice the small buds beginning to form on the tree branches or the delicate brown feathers of the sparrow eating from the feeder in my yard, the very subtle scent that a daffodil possesses, the temperature and sensation of the wind on my skin, the texture of bark on a tree. I don’t need to be standing at the precipice of the Grand Canyon to fell a sense of awe. The most miraculous kind of awe is finding magnificence and wonder in the every day and ordinary life that we often take for granted or find mundane.
The Irish Poet John O’Donahue speaks about wonder which is so connected to the experience of awe:
“Wonder makes the unknown interesting, attractive and miraculous. That’s why when wonder awakens in your life it is the lovely subtle presence that is always at the threshold of your heart transfiguring the anonymous into the intimate”
Awe does not happen behind the veneer of a perfectly balanced and happy life. It happens when we are exposed to the pain and suffering and challenges happening in the world right now that we sometimes try so hard to avoid by staying distracted. What if pain was a teacher and also a pathway to experiencing awe? What if wonder is not something we are cut off from during moments of crisis and challenge in our lives, but rather an opportunity we are gifted with to step into more deeply and more authentically? During experiences of awe our focus shifts outward and our awareness, creativity and curiosity is expanded.
In times of isolation awe has a beautiful connecting power. In her Johns Hopkins Magazine article, Awestruck , Ashley Stimson, writes that “in a world marked by division and conflict, cultivating awe has the power to bring us together and inspire positive change. Research has shown that experiencing awe can make us more compassionate, less materialistic, and more inclined to help others.”
And if that is not inspiration enough, experiencing awe also activates the vagus nerve, a braid of nerves running from the brain to the large intestines that is associated with the rest and digest part of the nervous system and can also activate feelings of compassion and altruism.
I recently experienced awe and wonder taking a walk near my mother’s house with my dog Shanti. We stopped for a long time to listen to the spring peeper frogs awakening in their watery home. The audio is below. Please listen.
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