Step back and gaze in wonder
#83 - sporting achievement and Sunday celebration
Hi there,
Halfway through the year, it’s come quickly. I’ve found it to be a busy year - I can’t remember what I was doing at Christmas.
It’s been a varied week with running house competitions at school, going to an open day in Oxford and celebrating my sister’s birthday today.
Highlight of the week: winning a cricket final. On a chilly evening in the middle of June, whilst my contribution to the game wasn’t noteworthy, I was part of a well-made win of a U17 cup. And it’s always nice to get a little trophy of recognition:
I. Friday, 3pm: I’m lucky that my work experience provider has an early finish on a Friday in the summer. I left at 1:30 and slump into my chair to read the week’s school newsletter when I catch that the school Art Exhibition was tonight till 6:30.
I didn’t know why, but really wanted to go. A quick change, hop on the bus and get to school. Thankfully, my journey was worth it. I don’t get to see much art these days, with my STEM A-Levels based on the other side of the school. Hence, to see the amazing work on show from Year 11s and Year 13s was an eye-opening and fantastic opportunity. What made me so impressed? The appreciation of a discipline I find difficult - art, the patience, thought, dedication, time and effort behind every piece of work. Here was my highlight of the day, by a friend Josh in Year 11 (a fellow oboist, might I add)
II. Stepping outside to go to the temple this afternoon, I noticed the flowers by our doorstep. I crouched down to look at them, up close and was immediately overcome by a sense of astonishment.
I was awestruck by the realisation that these wonderful flowers, with detailed designs when looked at carefully, colours of great purity bleeding into each other, are all founded from a humble seed, smaller than your fingernails. It was a fabulous thought journey to go down, one I thoroughly enjoyed.
Both these examples describe stories of feeling in awe. I wanted to find out if awe is an emotion we should be active in feeling in our lives. Turns out that it is.
How are we defining awe? A feeling of wonder at something we cannot explain, from something vast that we cannot explain. Often it is brought about from unbelievable aspects of nature but is commonly found in our perception of art, music and religion.
Here are 4 reasons we should welcome more awe into our life:
Improved mood1 - even if it is just excellent photos of magnificent things (I share these in the Article of the Week section occasionally), you feel satisfied and blessed to inhabit such a planet. You may also feel more alive and connected to the world around you, important for a species like ourselves.
You feel humbled - a word that’s come up often for me in the past month, feeling small in ‘the sublime’ of the world brings you right down to Earth and reminds you of how not everything is as big a deal as it seems
You are reminded of the brilliance of the world 🌍 - when all can seem like conflict and hate, realising the in-credible nature of life can be a source of inspiration, joy and hope
Good for your health (!) - awe can reduce the amount of interleukin-6 in your blood, which reduces your inflammation and thus the chance of developing some chronic diseases.
A final thought: there aren’t many things which we don’t know how to explain. In this information age, we aren’t left surprised by many things. Along with being under the stress of information overload and overconsumption, we can also lose the mind space to be curious.
Awe - a positive emotion that we feel by chance and always enjoy. Maybe we could be active in experiencing that which astonishes us. Whether it’s the traditional sources of nature and the arts or (being up-to-date) the mind-boggling artistic and text power of artificial intelligence, we can choose to feel staggered by the world around us.
Book of the week 📖
I finally got back to The Obstacle Is The Way, with plenty more exciting ideas and inspiring stories.
Podcast of the week🎙️
On Purpose with Jay Shetty: Cynthia Erivo on How to Take Small Steps to Achieving Your Goals
A lovely voice, an eloquent person who seems both compassionate but ambitious, this was a wonderful conversation to listen to (whilst mowing the back garden)
Article of the week 📰
We tend to only consider fully the advantages and benefits of achieving a particular goal, this was a reminder to think well about the other side of the coin too. As a friend advised me earlier on in the year, “How much of a compromise are you willing to sacrifice?”
Quote of the week 💬
“You always pass failure on the way to success” Mickey Rooney
Look out the window, what makes you go “Wow”? I’m all ears
Adi
P.S. I’ll go first, the different shades of green in bushes next to each other
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/eight_reasons_why_awe_makes_your_life_better