Well-being Wednesday: awe.
When have you last experienced awe?
Awe is the sense of wonder from something beyond comprehension. It’s not just spiritual parlance; awe is being recognized as important for mental and physical health (ex https://www.popsci.com/story/science/awe-walks-mental-health/ and https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/understanding-awe/201704/the-emerging-science-awe-and-its-benefits) Awe doesn’t have to come from an earth-shaking moment; its all around us, in the every day. Awe is cultivated with your presence and attention, and when tended, leaves individuals feeling more creative, connected, and pro social (any or all of those are healing balms in these challenging times of Covid).
Awe can be a practice to help you live your life to the fullest, and Dr. Karen West plays with this in her book 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying). AWE – being Awake to possibility, Willing to see the good, and Engaged with life. Awe is a spiritual practice fostered by death awareness; indeed, my own awe has burgeoned with the facilitation (and attendance) of death cafes. Being aware of the inevitability of my end allows me to be more fully present to the moment I’m in.
What brings you awe? Do you have favorite practices that lend themselves to the sense better than others? (Getting outside for #naturerx, reading poetry, spending quality time with my kids, death cafes, and witnessing sunrises and sunsets almost always manifest awe for me.)
Interested in joining us for death cafe? See our events page and the death café page (ours as well as the international page) for more information.
Wishing you awe-inducing attention to the spectacular and the mundane. #wellbeingwednesday #gotawe #spiritualpractice
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Written by Dr. Allison Mitch, PT (DPT); copyright protected, please cite accordingly. Originally posted to social media on 12/16/20. Image is from Pexels.
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