About a year ago, I read a book called “Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life,” by Dacher Keltner, an expert on human emotion. In the book, Keltner sets out to define what we mean by “awe” and illustrates the experience of awe through dozens of individual stories gathered from around the world.
Shortly after reading the book, I began to wonder: What if I paid a little closer attention every day to what astounds me and fills me with awe and wonder? What if I expanded my time of reflection to look more broadly and consider those eight areas of mystery? What if this was the way I ended each day, with this examen of awe?
A year later, my “year of awe” included some 50,000 words of reflection of my daily encounters with awe, as well as lots of photos of the stuff that caught my eye and heart. It’s not all riveting stuff, as you might imagine. But I learned a few things.
To read my reflection on my “Year of Awe,” click on this link to read it on the Jesuit Media Lab site:
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