Awe is that transcendent feeling of stepping out of the quotidian and encountering something vast, mysterious and beyond your comprehension. The experience is a human universal, deeply rooted in our evolutionary history to make us feel connected to the world beyond us. And, as Dacher Keltner, distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, explores in this video, you don’t need to summit Mount Kilimanjaro, or head to the Arctic to see the Northern Lights, to enjoy its myriad rewards. Rather, awe is all around us, if you know where to look. Borrowing from ideas in his book Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life (2023), Keltner details how awe works, why it benefits us and how we can feel more of it in our everyday lives.
For more on how to find awe in your daily life, read this Psyche Guide.