The ability to experience awe—the feeling of being in the presence of something vast, like a waterfall or starry sky—builds resilience against heartbreak. It provides perspective by making your personal problems feel smaller, temporarily quieting the ego, and fostering a connection to the wider world.
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A study found that students who spent just one to two minutes looking up at tall eucalyptus trees were subsequently more likely to help a stranger pick up dropped pens. This shows that even fleeting moments of awe can trigger immediate prosocial behavior.
A psychologist combated his own severe anxiety by engaging in activities like team basketball and loud rock concerts. These experiences allowed him to "get outside of himself" and lose his narrow preoccupations, demonstrating that awe-inducing activities can be a powerful therapeutic escape from anxiety's self-focus.
Society often mistakes emotional suppression for strength and discipline, a form of "toxic stoicism." However, true resilience involves feeling emotions deeply and acting despite them. Choosing to be vulnerable—speaking your truth when it's scary—is an act of courage, not weakness.
Dr. Bolte-Taylor suggests reflecting on the astronomical odds you beat to be born. From being one of 400,000 egg cells to multiplying at 250,000 cells per second in gestation, this perspective can generate profound awe and gratitude, counteracting feelings of meaninglessness.
The capacity for profound joy from simple things is intensified by having experienced life's hardships. Grief provides the necessary contrast that transforms tender moments from being merely "nice" into feeling "life-saving" and deeply meaningful.
The common assumption that heartbreak is purely negative is flawed. Instead of causing you to close off, experiencing and moving through the pain of heartbreak actually breaks your heart open, increasing your ability to love more deeply in the future. Avoiding this pain is what leads to trauma and closure, not the heartbreak itself.
Experiencing a true life tragedy, such as losing a spouse, fundamentally recalibrates one's perspective. It creates a powerful mental filter that renders materialistic envy and minor daily frustrations insignificant. This resilience comes from understanding the profound difference between a real problem and a mere inconvenience.
Marcus Aurelius's "view from above" is a concrete technique, similar to cognitive behavioral therapy, for managing anxiety. It involves visualizing yourself zooming out from your immediate situation to a cosmic scale. This mental drill provides perspective, shrinking overwhelming problems to a more manageable size.
A study on older adults found that taking a weekly "awe walk" became more effective with repetition, countering the typical hedonic treadmill effect. Participants felt increasing awe over eight weeks and their sense of self became smaller, as seen in the photos they took.
Paradoxically, achieving a deep sense of personal significance requires experiences of awe that make you feel small, like studying astronomy or being in nature. This shifts your perspective from the self-obsessed 'me-self' to the transcendent 'I-self,' which is the source of true meaning and peace.
