In this episode of the Emotional Expedition podcast, we explore the complex emotions of awe and wonder. Host Meghan Thomas takes us on a journey through personal stories and scientific research to understand what these emotions are, how they manifest in our lives, and how we can cultivate more of them.

Key Points:

We share responses from our Facebook community about moments of awe they experienced, which range from witnessing the beauty of nature to seeing loved ones grow and learn.

According to Dacher Keltner, awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends our current understanding of the world. The eight wonders of life that he identified are: moral beauty, nature, music, visual design, collective effervescence, spirituality, epiphanies or big ideas, and births and deaths. 

Experiencing awe produces a multitude of positive effects such as making us calmer, kinder, and more creative. It reins in the ego and makes us feel more connected. Awe reduces stress, depression, PTSD symptoms in veterans, and is also good for cardiovascular health and the immune system.

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