The Greater Good Science Center out of University of California, Berkeley, offers some amazing ways to cultivate awe and wonder. Over the next few blog posts, we will explore these activities.
Today, we share a video to elicit awe and wonder. It will take only 4 minutes out of your day, but I promise you it will evoke the emotion of awe and wonder as you explore Yosemite National Park. This activity that the GGSC shares explains the 2 key features that a video like this does to inspire awe.
- They involve a sense of vastness that puts into perspective your own relatively small place in the world. This vastness could be either physical (e.g., a panoramic view from a mountaintop) or psychological (e.g., an exceptionally courageous or heroic act of conscience).
- They alter the way you understand the world. For instance, they might make your everyday concerns seem less important, or they might expand your beliefs about the reaches of human potential.
If the Greater Good Science Center is new to you, I highly recommend you check out their work.