Time Required
Four minutes
How to Do It
Set aside four minutes to watch the video below. Put the video in full screen mode and try to give it your full attention.
Note that this video is just one example of a visual experience that can elicit awe; there are countless others, and being exposed to them can have similar effects. The videos and other stimuli that inspire awe tend to share two key features:
- They involve a sense of vastness that puts into perspective your own relatively small place in the world. This vastness could be either physical (e.g., a panoramic view from a mountaintop) or psychological (e.g., an exceptionally courageous or heroic act of conscience).
- They alter the way you understand the world. For instance, they might make your everyday concerns seem less important, or they might expand your beliefs about the reaches of human potential.
Why You Should Try It
It’s easy to feel bogged down by daily routines and mundane concerns, stifling our sense of creativity and wonder. Feeling awe can reawaken those feelings of inspiration.
Awe is induced by experiences that challenge and expand our typical way of seeing the world, often because we sense that we’re in the presence of something greater than ourselves. Research suggests that experiencing awe improves people’s satisfaction with life, makes them feel like they have more time, makes them feel less self-conscious, and reduces their focus on trivial concerns.
But in our everyday lives, we might not regularly encounter things that fill us with awe. That’s where this practice comes in. It’s a way to infuse your day with a dose of wonder even if you can’t make it to an inspiring vista or museum.
Why It Works
Taking time out to experience awe can help people break up their routine and challenge themselves to think in new ways. Evoking feelings of awe may be especially helpful when people are feeling bogged down by day-to-day concerns. Research suggests that awe has a way of lifting people outside of their usual, more narrow sense of self and connecting them with something larger and more significant. This sense of broader connectedness and purpose can help relieve negative moods and improve happiness.
Evidence That It Works
Rudd, M., Vohs, K.D., and Aaker, J. (2012). Awe expands people's perception of time, alters decision making, and enhances well-being. Psychological Science, 23(10), 1130-1136.
In three experiments, participants were induced to feel awe—such as by watching an awe-inspiring video—as well as other emotions. People who experienced awe felt that they had more time available to themselves, were less impatient, were more willing to volunteer their time to help others, preferred having positive experiences over material products, and reported greater life satisfaction.
Sources
Melanie Rudd, Ph.D., University of Houston
Quick Description
Could your life be more awesome? Take our Awe Quiz to find out:
Comments
and Reviews
Lisa Bryant
I felt immediately emotional. I am reminded of how much nature impacts me and how little time I allow myself to spend time in it.
James
this video made me feel nothing
Jarrod Reid
I'm giving this 5 starts - sight unseen. Yosemite is at the top of my wish list, but I have no idea how I'm going to get there. Get to those bucket list things early in life, my people. Love, Old Man Reid
Kaytlyn
This does not do it for me at all. It’s the miracle of life that does it for me, the unfurling of spirals, sacred geometry and the Fibonacci series in Nature, as Louie Schwartzberg captures so well in his time lapse photography videos. The “busy-ness” of humanity is contra-indicative of awe... I think!
ARIANA
I did this practice in the past without knowing it. After watching several videos of this place, I decided to make the dream come true!
Cindi rivera
Lovely & breathtaking and "easy to do!"
marlene gimpel
It made me feel like an ant, with sense of it all and fully connected with nature, I do not quite amazed by the beauty of nature and beautiful comets
Fide De Viáncha
Video relajante pone a volar la imaginación
Ken Kressin
Could watch this many times, and would like updates as more become recommended.
Casey Stark
A great exercise - easy to incorporate into routine. Would be great to pair this with some deep breathing exercises, too.