Why Awe Might Be Our Most Undervalued Emotion

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When you experience awe—whether it's staring at a starry sky, witnessing an act of extraordinary kindness, or even watching that mesmerizing slow-motion video of a droplet falling into milk—your default mode network quiets down.

The default mode network is essentially your brain's "me channel." It's that constant internal chatter about your problems, your plans, your anxieties about the future and regrets about the past. It's the neural network that keeps you trapped in the prison of your own perspective. But awe does something remarkable: it temporarily breaks you out of that prison.

This isn't just poetic language—it's measurable brain activity. 

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Transcript

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This is Heliox, where evidence meets empathy. Independent, moderated, timely, deep, gentle, clinical, global, and community conversations about things that matter. Breathe easy. We go deep and lightly surface the big ideas. Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we're taking a close look at an emotion that feels both huge and really personal. It can stop you in your tracks. Awe. Yeah, it's powerful. Sometimes hard to pin down, you know. But the research suggests it has some really significant benefits for us. We've gathered insights from, well, multiple articles and studies exploring what awe is, how it affects our brains, our bodies, and maybe most importantly, how we can find more of it. Right. Our goal here is to unpack all this, find the key takeaways, and help you understand the science and, frankly, the practical power of experiencing awe, especially thinking about resilience and just general well-being. Okay, so let's start with the basics. What is awe? So when we talk about awe, what are we actually feeling? The sources seem to agree it's complex. It happens when you encounter something extraordinary, something that kind of challenges how you see things. Right. And usually it's described as having two core parts. First, there's the sense of vastness could be physical vastness, you know, like looking up at giant redwood trees, or it could be conceptually vast, thinking about infinity, maybe. Or like that example in one paper, the color droplet falling into milk in slow-mo. That really clicked for me. Vastness isn't just about sheer size, is it? Exactly. It's about scale relative to yourself. And the second part often mentioned is this thing called need for accommodation or NFA. That's basically when the experience is so new or different that your brain kind of has to scramble to make sense of it, maybe create a new mental framework. But it's not quite that straightforward, is it? I mean, the research also says that NFA thing isn't always there. Sometimes awe is just about perceiving the vastness. Yeah, the need to totally update your mental model isn't a requirement every single time. And it's fascinating how people struggle to describe it. In one study, participants were like, it's hard to explain, indescribable, you know, a feeling that's beyond easy words. And we tend to think positive, right? Wonder, amazement. But the sources are clear. They can have negative sides too, like fear, maybe feeling a bit out of control. Definitely. Standing on a high cliff edge, that's awe, but maybe also a little terrifying. So where do we find it? It seems super broad. Oh, absolutely. Nature and space are the classics, but also music, art, seeing amazing human achievements, someone else's or even your own. Religious or spiritual experiences, powerful moments connecting with other people. And you don't even have to be there physically, right? Yeah. Like VR, photos, videos. Listening to something powerful, reading, all can trigger it. Which leads to a really crucial point from the material. This isn't just for epic once-in-a-lifetime trips. You can find awe in everyday moments, too. That's so important. It makes it accessible. Okay, so it's complex, sometimes hard to define, shows up all over. Yeah. But why does it matter? Why should we actively seek out awe? Well, the benefits highlighted in the research are honestly pretty compelling. Let's talk psychological and cognitive first. Feeling awe can actually make you more aware of gaps in your knowledge, Which sounds maybe negative, but it spurs curiosity, makes you want to learn more. Oh, interesting. It's also linked to more creativity, better critical thinking, and finding meaning or purpose. That seems big. Yeah, and handling uncertainty, maybe even ambiguity a bit better. And I like that idea about humility feeling small makes you less wrapped up in your own minor problems. Exactly. That connects to mood improvements, better emotional regulation, being more open-minded, more optimistic, generally. And the social side, that seems really significant too. Hugely. Awe often fosters this deep sense of connection with others. The sources call it a self-transcendent emotion. It's this feeling of being part of something much larger than just yourself, like a sense of unity. Which leads to the small self idea, right? Precisely. Your own ego, your personal worries, they just seem to shrink a bit. And when that happens, you're actually more likely to be, well, kinder, more generous, more helpful pro-social behaviors. Okay, what about physically? Does feeling awe actually impact our health? The research points that way. Potential improvements in overall health may be even a healing effect. It's mentioned specifically in relation to counteracting cumulative stress. You mean like burnout, feeling isolated, losing hope, that kind of chronic stress? Exactly that. There seems to be a link to lower stress hormone levels, like cortisol, which in turn could help with things like blood pressure. And maybe even lower the risk of heart disease, actual cardiovascular benefits. That's what the connections suggest. It's quite profound. It really does sound like this ripple effect. The good feelings aren't just in that one moment they spread out, last longer. So we've got the what and the why. What about the how? What's actually going on in our brains when we feel awe? Okay, yeah, this part is fascinating. When you experience awe, specific brain areas get busy. Your prefrontal cortex, the planning focusing part, lights up. It's processing the significance, right? And the anterior cingulate cortex, the ACC, which is crucial for regulating emotions and cognitive function, it also gets involved. Helps manage that intensity, fosters that calm and wonder mix. And there's dopamine release mentioned too, the feel-good chemical. Yeah, linked to pleasure, reward, but also thinking functions. It's all interconnected. Plus the insula. That's tied to bodily awareness, right? feeling it in your gut almost. Connects the physical sensations to the emotional experience. It shows how embodied awe can be. But maybe the coolest finding, I thought, was about the default mode network, the DMN. Ah, yes, the DMN. That's the network that's usually humming along when your mind's wandering, thinking about yourself, your past, your future. Kind of the me network. And the studies found that experiencing awe actually seems to quiet the DMN down. They did this neat fMRI study. People watched awe videos, or just generally positive ones, or neutral ones, and they did it under two conditions. Just watching passively or actively counting camera angle changes. Right, so one passive, one analytical task. And what they found was, while passively watching usually increases DMN activity, you know, mind-wandering, that increase was weakest for the awe videos. So the awe videos were just so absorbing. Exactly. So immersive, they naturally reduce that self-focused chatter, almost like the analytical task did by forcing focus elsewhere. Your brain gets pulled out of itself. And conversely, the frontal parietal network, the FPN, that's for attention, right? Right. Directing attention. That network was most active when people watched the awe videos, especially when they had to analyze them. Really shows how awe grabs and holds your focus. So less me, me, me brain activity, more focused attention outward. It fits perfectly with the subjective feeling of the small self. It really does. The neuroscience seems to back up the experience beautifully. Which brings us, I think, to the practical side. How do we actually use this? How do we bring more awe into our lives? And this is where stories seem really important. Yeah, this concept of narrative health is powerful. The research suggests that reflecting on experiences, telling our stories, sharing them, it builds resilience. And it's not just good for the person telling a story. The listener benefits, too. Even just expressive writing, getting it down on paper, can boost well-being, reduce anxiety and depression symptoms. And one source even mentioned potential links between listening to personal stories of overcoming hardship and reduced suicidal ideation in listeners. That's quite something. It really is. And you see concrete examples in the sources how sharing stories helped people in high-stress jobs. Law enforcement, NASA leaders, nurses. I remember that quote from Rana Oddish. Something like, narratives do more than restore our faith in ourselves. They have the power to transform. It's about fundamental shifts. Definitely. And that qualitative study, The Awe Project, where people had brief awe experiences and then shared their reflections, that really dug into the nuances. Yeah, their story showed, again, how hard awe is to define but how deeply people feel it. And often, one single awe experience, say, being in nature would spark multiple themes. Like humility, mindfulness, maybe spiritual thoughts, curiosity, self-reflection, all tangled together from one moment. And that theme of uncertainty came up again too, right? People admitting they couldn't fully grasp what they were seeing or feeling. Describing it as beauty that defies understanding or feeling small in a vast, unknowable thing, that sense of mystery. And holding seemingly contradictory feelings at the same time, like feeling small and large or insignificant and significant or calm but also euphoric. And the idea is experiencing that complexity, that ambiguity within an awe moment might actually make us better equipped to handle uncertainty elsewhere in life. It's like practice. That study also really drove home the everyday awe point through the stories people told, like the Korean BBQ dinner example. Right, where consciously shifting perspective turned a regular meal into something awe-inspiring. It just reinforces that message. Awe isn't hiding on a mountaintop somewhere. It can be found daily if you look for it intentionally. And connecting this back to resilience, these moments of awe act like vital breaks, positive interruptions in the daily grind of stress. They don't just feel nice. They might actually help your system cope and recover, buffer against that cumulative stress. Yeah, that participant quote about awe being a boost to the spirit, energizing, restoring. That sounds like resilience fuel to me. And think about that practical application. The NuVent's Health VR study, using awe visuals with meditation for brain surgery patients to reduce anxiety. Showing promising early results, even in a really intense medical setting. It highlights awe's potential role in healing, in recovery. It's not just fluff. Wow. Okay, so we've journeyed from trying to define this big, complex emotion, awe. Explored its benefits from mind, body, social connection. Dived into the brain science, the whole small self mechanism. And seeing how stories, reflection, and intentional practice can make awe a real tool, a tool for resilience, for well-being. Yeah, the big takeaway from all these sources really seems to be awe is accessible. It's powerful. And the research backs it up as something that can genuinely enhance your life. Absolutely. It's not just a fleeting nice feeling. It has depth and lasting impact. So as we wrap up this deep dive, maybe here's something for you to think about. Building on that idea of everyday awe and the power of stories we discussed. What if, just today, you intentionally looked for one small thing that sparks even a tiny flicker of wonder? It could be anything the way light hits a building, an intricate pattern on a leaf, a piece of music you have here. And what if you took just a second to really notice it, maybe even reflect on it later, mention it to someone? Did that simple act, that moment of intentional awe-seeking, create a kind of positive ripple effect, maybe in ways you can't even predict right now? It's something to consider. Thanks for listening today. Four recurring narratives underlie every episode. Boundary dissolution, adaptive complexity, embodied knowledge, and quantum-like uncertainty. These aren't just philosophical musings, but frameworks for understanding our modern world. We hope you continue exploring our other podcasts, responding to the content, and checking out our related articles at helioxpodcast.substack.com.