Awe

A political columnist recounts his experience in a hay field with Smithsonian scientists and is inspired to leave his political journalism days to become an environmental journalist instead. He explains that his previous work left him in a perpetual state of unease, and that we all should take time to slow down.

One of the keys to that recovery is nurturing our innate sense of awe, the feeling we get when we contemplate something so vast and mysterious that it quiets our anxieties and ambitions and puts our differences and disagreements into perspective.

So it’s the human emotion in some ways,” Keltner says. “All the ambitious, nagging FOMO tendencies of yourself are quieted during awe. … You realize, I’m part of a collective. There are people I’m responsible for and who are responsible for me. And that illusion of individualism fades.”

We hear often about plant and animal species hurtling toward extinction as the planet warms and their habitats disappear — and we need to do all we can to reverse that. But we also need to pause for a moment in gratitude for the bounty that remains.

This article shows the power of expert guided experiences and the moments and realizations they can bring.