Awakening Awe: A Well-Being and Health Solution for Inspired Action
- Avital Miller
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 22 hours ago
My latest graduate school venture is to personally experience interventions that support health and well-being as part of my Advanced Health Psychology course. Each week, we select one practice to focus on, observe the effects, and reflect on the process. My first choice was awe. It has been at the forefront of my awareness since I included it in a recent stress management talk I delivered. I have been intrigued by the potency of awe since studying it in positive psychology and watching Jennifer Stellar’s TED Talk on how awe reduces the body’s inflammatory response (Stellar et al., 2015; TEDMED, 2016).
I watched that recording while walking the streets of Venice during Carnival. Awe was effortless there. The old architecture rising out of the water, gondolas drifting over quiet canals, mist that softened the sky, tourists in lavish Baroque costumes with powdered wigs, embroidered gowns, velvet capes, and Venetian masks of every shape and expression. I attended grand balls with live musicians whose performances brought tears to my eyes. I enjoyed multi-course meals among travelers from around the world, practicing my languages and sharing stories.
But what happens when I return home to a more familiar environment—my quiet street in Denver, my laptop, my books, my responsibilities? How do we evoke awe when life feels ordinary, structured, or rushed?
Stellar suggests that awe is not only found in the extraordinary moments, but also in the simple ones: watching the sunset, listening deeply to music, noticing light in the trees (TEDMED, 2016). This matters because awe has been shown to lower the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6), which contributes to chronic disease when elevated long term (Stellar et al., 2015). Higher levels of awe are also linked to greater social connection, curiosity, and a sense of being part of something larger than oneself.
With this in mind, I chose something small and accessible: five-minute walks in the park across the street, focusing only on the fall leaves. With so much graduate work, my course assistantship, and my business, I needed something that contrasted the screen, the structure, and the routine. I followed Stellar’s recommendation to look for simple awe moments, and Burke et al.’s (2022) suggestion to choose well-being activities that feel enjoyable and meaningful.
From the beginning, I noticed that the practice required choice. I needed to consciously shift my attention away from thoughts and toward the sensory experience of color, air, and movement. When my mind wandered, I simply changed direction or looked at a new cluster of leaves. Over time, I found myself wanting to walk through the center of the park rather than around its edges, as if the experience was inviting me deeper.
Sharing the experience made it expand further. I found myself speaking to strangers, smiling more, noticing people noticing the same beauty. My spiritual teacher once wrote on a napkin, “It is bliss’ nature to want to share itself” (personal communication, n.d.). I felt that happening.
I also attended a group mindful art-viewing session at a gallery and the opening of a new Impressionism exhibit. Again, awe drew me inward and outward at the same time. I wanted to step inside the paintings, to visit the places they were created, to move closer to life itself. At the same time, I delighted in sharing the joy of awe with other museum visitors.
Positive psychology describes this as the broaden-and-build effect: positive emotions expand our capacity to think clearly, connect meaningfully, and access personal resources we did not realize were available (Fredrickson, 2001). For me, awe awakened curiosity, openness, enthusiasm, and a renewed sense of possibility.
One evening, I heard rhythmic drumming from somewhere in the neighborhood. The sound was unfamiliar and steady. I went to find it and made a new friend who joined me in the quest. The search led us across the park, down blocks I had never walked, and eventually to a neighborhood driveway where a group of dancers in traditional Mexican attire moved in time with a circle of drummers behind them. Their colors shimmered, their focus was unwavering, and the moment felt like a gift patiently waiting to be discovered. I had tears in my eyes again—not because the moment was grand in scale, but because it felt alive, present, and unexpected. Awe had widened my awareness enough to see what I would otherwise have missed.
To integrate awe into your life, begin with the simple. This is not about doing more. It is about noticing differently. Awe can be found in:
A five-minute walk
The light on the leaves
A favorite song heard with full attention
The sky when you step outside before work
A memory that still stirs your heart
Let this be an invitation rather than a task. Awe is not something we force. It is something we allow.
As you lie in bed tonight, ask gently:
What moment today opened my heart, even a little?
Even 10 seconds of remembering it is enough.
Because awe does not just feel good.
It shifts physiology.
It expands perception.
It invites inspired action.
And a life with more of that is a life that moves.
References
Burke, J., Dunne, P. J., Meehan, T., O’Boyle, C. A., & Van Nieuwerburgh, C. (2022). Positive health: 100+ research-based positive psychology and lifestyle medicine tools to enhance your wellbeing (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003279594
Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218–226. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.56.3.218
Stellar, J. E., John-Henderson, N., Anderson, C. L., Gordon, A. M., McNeil, G. D., & Keltner, D. (2015). Positive affect and markers of inflammation. Emotion, 15(2), 129–133. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000033
TEDMED. (2016, September 19). The positive effect of positive emotions [Video]. YouTube.
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