Recently One of our BrightStar facilitator’s shared feedback on our facilitators whatsapp group with the words:
‘Sooooo rewarding to see how BS is being used to help the participants to experience life changing AHA moments!
I pray that I will never “get used to” the thrill of it all!’
Her feedback touched my heart as I could sense that she, like me and many other facilitators and participants are standing in ‘awe’ of the effect of this product. This ignited a curiosity within me to really understand the word “awe’
At BrightStar we are growing in the understanding of what a BrightStar lifestyle entails. Three things that we believe is:
- We need to live in the moment, intentional.
- Our lives are enriched when we celebrate moments of growth.
- Emotions add meaning when we can give it a name.
Let’s celebrate this moment by reflecting on what the word ‘awe’ means…
The Cambridge dictionary definition describes ‘awe’ as a feeling of great respect, sometimes mixed with fear or surprise.
Examples:
⁃ I’ve always held musicians in awe.
⁃ As children we were rather in awe of our grandfather.
The American English definition says ‘Awe’ is the feeling of respect and amazement that you have when you are faced with something wonderful and often rather frightening.
Example:
⁃ She gazed in awe at the great stones.
Wikipedia adds: ‘awe’ is an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration and fear, dread and wonder, produced by that which is grand, sublime and extremely powerful.
Example:
⁃ in awe of God
On Robert Plutchik’s wheel of emotions awe is modelled as a combination of surprise and fear. Awe is an emotion comparable to wonder but less joyous.
We often think about awe in response to rare and intense events, such as
⁃ viewing a sunrise or
⁃ watching Olympians break world records.
⁃ But awe is also found in the everyday— watching the leaves of a tree
change from green to yellow, or
⁃ seeing a stranger give food to a homeless person.
The main triggers of awe can be philosophical ones such as literature, music, painting and viewing landscapes. Awe is typically experienced in response to stimuli like natural wonders, stunning sunrises or events such as the birth of a child.
Dacher Keltner, a psychology professor at UC Berkeley and co-director of the Greater Good Science Center, has dedicated many experiments to the study of this single emotion. His work has shown that in our history ‘awe’ had a hand in shifting individualist into social groups and eventually into growing societies. He found that ‘awe’ enables us to act in more collaborative ways, that enables strong groups, thus improving our odds for survival.”
‘Awe’ still plays an important role in society today. Not only is it a magical feeling, but it inspires us to shift our perspective. When we experience awe, we realize that our annoyances and anxieties are one part of a massive whole of the human experience, and this automatically reframes our minds in a way that makes us more social.
Practically this means that whenever we see something beautiful or find ‘awe’ in an everyday moment,
- We feel the need to share it. Think of the person that you would like to call to chat about a beautiful view, a meaningful moment with a mentor, or an interesting animal that visited your yard.
- Awe also makes us curious! The emotion might be mislabelled as wonder or amazement, both of which can be stirred by awe. As it is often a positive emotion, and a connective one, it spurs us to ask questions and be excited in our pursuit of new knowledge. Keltner gives the example of young children who are perpetually experiencing things larger than themselves and completely out of their control. What is their most common phrase? WHY! Just like a toddler, when we experience awe, we want to know more.
I’m wrapping up with a personal experience of the word awe that resulted in sharing and increased curiosity…
When my husband returned from a tour that included visiting Petra in Jordan he was in ‘awe’.
Petra is a famous archaeological site in Jordan’s southwestern desert. Dating to around 300 B.C. You access the city via a narrow canyon and then you are surprised to enter a hidden city that contains tombs and temples carved into pink sandstone cliffs, earning its nickname, the “Rose City.”
Because he was in awe, he organised that I could also get the opportunity to see the beautiful site and that led to me calling him a year later from the hotel room, sharing through tears what the experience ignited in me.
Let’s live a life full of moments of awe!
Amanda Swanepoel
Co-CEO BrightStar Lifestyle