A recent set of experiments showed that the state of being in awe can enhance one’s outlook, in addition to a willingness to be helpful to others. One of the things I notice over and over is a loss of wonder and awe experienced by adults.
As children this openness and receptivity to experiencing wonder and awe is almost instinctive. We come to the world with open hearts, blank slates for minds, and a seemingly infinite amount of curiosity. As we grow up and learn about the need for structure, routine and the general concrete daily realities, we all too often become engaged in somewhat of a tunnel vision, forgetting to look around us and failing to notice the miracles that surround us constantly.
This article refers mostly to places that are far from ordinary, but I think we can apply the message to the ordinary things that we forget to pay attention to regularly. What would happen if you made it a point every day to notice something that you would otherwise have not paid any mind to and allow yourself to lose yourself for a minute in its beauty? Like the sky on a clear night during twilight hour, or the rhythem of the leaves blowing in the wind? It is also interesting that, as the article mentions, being in a state of awe can expand a sense of time; isn’t this how we feel as children? That we have all the time in the world? An openneness to, and subsequent mindful awareness of your everyday surroundings – and specifically the beauty that can be found in them – seems to me to be a beneficial practice on multiple accounts.
Read the full article here:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120719161901.htm
