The new year is a good time to read Awe – The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, the 2023 book by Dacher Keltner. He pioneered the scientific study of awe and demonstrated that people who find everyday awe are more curious and open to new ideas and the strengths and virtues of other people.
Keltner is a professor of psychology at University of California Berkeley and a renowned expert in the science of human emotion. His book, based on decades of scientific research, explains what awe is, what causes awe, how it impacts the brain, what the benefits are and how to experience more awe to enhance your life and well-being. Keltner says we have a basic need for awe and can find it anywhere.
First, what is awe? In 2003, Keltner and his colleague defined awe as “the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your current understanding of the world.” Keltner cites eight wonders of life where one can find awe – moral beauty (exceptional character and ability), collective effervescence (being part of a collective “we”), nature, music, visual design, spirituality and religion, life and death, and epiphany. A magnificent sunset, the birth of a baby, stars in the night sky, towering trees, inspirational music and art, and witnessing someone accomplish a phenomenal feat are some examples.
Experiencing awe results in feeling part of something bigger than oneself, living with wonder and being more curious and open to new ideas. Other benefits include better concentration and handling stress with more resilience. Awe shifts people’s minds to see things as interrelated and have a sense of being part of the natural world.
“In teaching happiness for more than 20 years, I have seen how much health and well-being we gain by being amazed at things outside ourselves,” writes Keltner.
Keltner tells compelling stories and relays personal experiences about the transformative power of awe through art, music, nature, births and deaths, inspirational people, spirituality and epiphanies. His stories and insights range from inmates at San Quentin State Prison to NBA basketball star and coach Steve Kerr to Charles Darwin and many ordinary people having extraordinary experiences.
Keltner’s research investigates the relationship between emotions and the brain. His studies have shown that witnessing courage, kindness, strength and resilience in others activates different areas of the brain and prompts us to be more ready to share and help others. Sights, sounds, scents and tastes of nature lead to awe-related vagus nerve activation and reduce fight-or-flight cardiovascular response, blood pressure, cortisol and inflammation. Encounters with images of nature activate dopamine networks in the brain, which animate exploration and wonder.
Viewing art, listening to music and being exposed to nature trigger the release of oxytocin and dopamine. Regions of the brain associated with self-criticism and anxiety quiet down. In one extensive study in the United Kingdom, people who practiced art or viewed art volunteered more in their community and gave away more money two years after the study.
A nondescript leaf in the author’s front yard sparks the curiosity of her granddaughter, Anna. Photo by KAREN WITTER
People in all cultures are awestruck by the beginning and end of life. Keltner writes that childbirth is the most undervalued act of courage in human history. The birth of a child induces a sense of awe. Studies have shown that both parents have elevated levels of oxytocin (which triggers openness and connection) six months after the birth of a first child.
Proinflammatory cytokines are released in immune cells to kill bacteria and viruses; social threats also elevate these proinflammatory cytokines. Awe can be a pathway to avoid chronic inflammation and associated diseases.
“It is hard to imagine a single thing you can do that is better for your body and mind than finding awe outdoors,” writes Keltner. It leads to the reduced likelihood of cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, diabetes, depression, anxiety and cancer. The benefits extend across the life span, from reduced asthma in children to reductions in everyday aches and pains, allergies, vertigo and eczema.
Keltner writes that the world has become more narcissistic, defined by self-focus, arrogance, a sense of superiority and entitlement. He says narcissism can trigger myopia to concerns of others as well as aggression, racism, bullying and everyday incivility. In a study of the impact of experiencing nature-related awe on the polarizing issue of police brutality, the participants exposed to awe perceived the issue in a less-polarized fashion.
Experiencing awe animates children’s curiosity. Numerous factors are contributing to a downward trend in children experiencing awe and discovering the wonders of life. There is less art and music taught in school, less free-form play, more rigid scheduling of children’s time and less time spent outdoors.
There are many opportunities in everyday life to experience awe by opening all of one’s senses. As nature writer Rachel Carson advised in the 1950s, look at clouds, look up at the sky and listen to sounds of the natural world.
Slow down. Observe. Listen. Immerse yourself in art, nature and music. Experience something that brings you to tears of joy or gives you goosebumps. Find the extraordinary in the ordinary.
Karen Ackerman Witter first learned about the power and science of awe after a whitewater rafting trip on the Colorado River. She has experienced awe in Africa, the Galapagos Islands, national parks, castles in Wales, art museums throughout the world, Washington Park, the gym, outside the door to her house and many other places near and far.
This article appears in January 22 – 26, 2026.
