Do 1 Thing Differently While Taking A Walk.

The Results Were Astounding.

“It [creates] an amazing cascade of physiology that we can find almost any day and is very good for you,”

“It’s amazing! It tells us so much about the evolution of the human nervous system,” Keltner, the author of “Awe: The New Science Of Everyday Wonder And How It Can Transform Your Life,”

“One region of the brain is deactivated [when we experience awe] — the default mode network. That is where all the self-representational processes take place: I’m thinking about myself, my time, my goals, my strivings, my checklist. That quiets down during awe.”

• Awe activates our vagus nerve. – “the big bundle of nerves starting in the top of your spinal cord that helps you look at people and vocalize,”

• Slows our heart rate,

• Helps with digestion

• Cools down the inflammation process. “It’s part of your immune system that attacks diseases, and we want it to be cooler and not always hot.”

• Opens up our bodies to things bigger than us.”

How can we experience awe? Take an “awe walk.”

The study involved:

1. “People who were 75 years old or older. The control condition — once a week they went out on a walk.

2. Our ‘awe walk’ condition – while you’re out on your walk, go some place where you might feel a little child-like wonder and look around — look at the small things and look at the big things and just follow that sense of mystery and wonder.’ That’s all we asked them to do.”

You find it when you look for it.

• a flower bud, a leaf, bark on a tree, the color of clouds

• a bird, a bug, a slug

• the sunrise, the stars, dew drops, fog

• laughter, chirps

• Seeing others do an act of kindness or generosity

• Music, art and philosophy-thinking about big ideas 

 Comparing the group that walked and the “awe walk” group over 8 weeks, they found the awe walk group felt more awe –

They also reported less pain and distress.

“The scientists also documented what Keltner calls

“the disappearance of the self.”

“Each week we had [the study participants] take a picture of themselves and what we found was, [those in the study who were going on the awe walk] start to move off to the side [of the] photo. They kind of disappear!

What that tells us is their consciousness is — they’re not thinking about ‘OK, there’s my face and I get it perfectly situated in the photo.’ They’re more interested in the vaster scene that they’re part of and losing track of themselves and that’s important — that’s important to expand our attention to things outside of the self.”

 “It [creates] an amazing cascade of physiology that we can find almost any day and is very good for you.”

It’s a simple feat

Exerpts from an interview withRaj Punjabi and Noah Michelson, HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dacher-keltner-awe-wonder-walk_l_676f0658e4b0063e00bc064c