The Science of Awe: The Psychological benefits of mysterious experiences

The science of awe reveals something that seems counterintuitive: feeling small in the face of something vast actually makes us feel more connected, not less. NASA’s Artemis II crew experienced exactly this last month, when Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen looked back at Earth from the far side of the moon and described seeing “living proof” that humanity’s purpose is to lift each other up. 

Researchers have spent two decades studying why moments like these, as well as more ordinary ones, produce such a profound shift in our mental health and, consequently, in our generosity towards others.

The best thing about this is you don’t have to become an astronaut to feel it. 

Key questions about the science of awe we explore below:

• What is awe, and where does it come from?
• What are the psychological benefits of awe?
• Why does awe make us more generous?
• How can we bring more awe into everyday life?

What is the science of awe?

Awe is the emotion we feel when we encounter something so vast that it challenges our understanding of the world. UC Berkeley psychologist Dr. Dacher Keltner has spent two decades researching awe. He describes it as consisting of two core ingredients: vastness, the sense of encountering something larger than ourselves; and accommodation, the moment our minds have to stretch and expand to take it in.

Most of us associate awe with grand, once-in-a-lifetime experiences: standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon, hearing an orchestra fill a concert hall, or watching humans travel beyond Earth for the first time in a generation. But Keltner’s research identifies eight distinct sources of awe, and they include experiences far closer to home. Music, powerful ideas, spiritual connection, and acts of human kindness or courage all carry the same psychological structure as standing at the edge of something vast.

Research into awe shows that the mysterious experiences that stop us in our tracks are not reserved for the lucky or the well-travelled. They are woven into ordinary life, for anyone willing to pay attention.

This insight is not entirely new. Researchers have drawn explicit parallels between the awe response and the concept of interconnectedness. This Buddhist idea holds that the self is not a fixed, separate thing, but part of a much larger whole. So even though awe can make us feel small in the presence of something vast, it is not diminishing us. Rather, it is connecting us to something larger than ourselves. 

The psychological benefits of awe

Awe does far more than take our breath away in the moment. Research across psychology, neuroscience, and medicine consistently shows that it produces measurable, lasting effects on our mental and physical well-being. 

Here is what the science actually tells us:

• The “small self” effect

One of the most consistent findings in awe research is what Keltner calls the “small self”: the experience of our ego quieting in the presence of something larger than us. When this happens, we ruminate less. We feel, briefly but genuinely, like part of something larger than our own concerns. For anyone navigating chronic stress, or anxiety, this effect is particularly significant.

This is precisely what Jeremy Hansen was describing from the far side of the Moon. Vastness doesn’t make us feel insignificant. It makes us feel connected.

• Reduced anxiety and improved mood

People who regularly experience awe report lower levels of anxiety, depression, and stress. Awe redirects our attention outward and away from our internal loops of worry and self-criticism. This outward shift is one of the key mechanisms researchers believe underlies its mood-lifting effects. 

The mysterious experiences that produce awe share a common quality: they pull our focus away from ourselves and toward something larger.

• What awe does inside your body

When we are under prolonged stress, our bodies produce proteins called cytokines, which trigger inflammation. In short bursts, this is useful, since it is part of how the body defends itself. But chronic low-grade inflammation running in the background is linked to serious conditions such as heart disease, type-2 diabetes, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease.

A UC Berkeley study measured levels of a key inflammatory protein (Interleukin-6, or IL-6) across seven positive emotions. The emotion with the strongest association with lower IL-6 wasn’t joy, or love, or even gratitude. It was awe. Keltner, who co-authored the study, explained that the things we do to experience awe, such as a walk in nature, losing ourselves in music, or witnessing something that moves us, directly influence our health and life expectancy.

• An expanded sense of time

People who experience awe consistently report feeling that time has slowed and life has opened up a little. In a world where most of us feel rushed a lot of the time, this effect alone is worth pursuing.

• Greater creativity and open-mindedness

Awe improves cognitive flexibility: our ability to think in new ways, reconsider assumptions, and approach problems from unexpected angles. If you have ever had a creative breakthrough after a walk in nature or an absorbing piece of music, you have felt this effect firsthand.

Why awe makes us more generous

The science of awe relates directly to what we care about at 365give.

Research consistently finds that people who experience awe become more generous and more social. They are more likely to give their time, attention, and help to others. This connects back to the small self: when our sense of our own importance quiets, our sense of connection to others expands. The wellbeing of the people around us becomes more important.

Acts of human kindness and courage are themselves one of the most powerful and most overlooked triggers of awe in everyday life. Witnessing someone treat another person with extraordinary kindness stops us the same way a mountain vista stops us. Remember how it felt when you witnessed a stranger being helped, a burden shared, or a moment of genuine generosity between two people? That’s everyday awe at work.

This sits at the heart of the 365give philosophy: giving generates awe, and awe inspires giving. One small act of generosity ripples outward to the person who receives it, to everyone who witnesses it, and back to the person who offered it. You don’t need to go to the Moon to experience this. You just need to give and to pay attention when you do.

Five ways to find awe in everyday life

You don’t need a dramatic experience to feel awe. You just need to pay attention.

1. Step outside and really look

Nature is one of the most reliable awe triggers available to us, and research shows that even brief time in natural environments, including urban parks, produces measurable awe responses. The key is to be aware of it, to actually stop and be present in it.

Try this: on your next walk, choose one thing and give it thirty seconds of genuine attention. It could be a tree, the movement of a cloud, or light on water. That small act of noticing is the practice of awe.

2. Listen to music that moves you

Music is one of the most powerful and accessible awe triggers available. The physical sensation of chills that a great piece of music produces is a measurable awe response. It can happen in a living room with a pair of headphones as readily as in a concert hall.

Try this: put on a piece of music you love but haven’t really listened to in a long time. Really listen to it. Sit with it for fifteen minutes and see what happens.

3. Watch for acts of human goodness

Most of us are not watching for this source of awe. Witnessing someone act with extraordinary kindness, patience, or generosity toward another person is a genuine awe trigger, with the same psychological structure as looking back at Earth from space. It is one of the wonders of life available on any street, in any city, on any ordinary day.

Try this: the next time you see someone go quietly out of their way for another person pause and really let it land. It could be as simple as someone helping another person carry something heavy. That moment of being moved is awe. For those paying attention, it happens every day.

4. Sit with a big idea

Grappling with ideas that are larger than our current understanding is one of Keltner’s eight sources of awe, and one of the least discussed. You don’t need a philosophy degree to feel the pull of a question you can’t fully answer.

Try this: spend five quiet minutes thinking about something genuinely vast. The age of the universe. The fact that every person you pass on the street carries an inner life as complex and complete as your own. How a seed becomes a tree. Let your mind reach toward something it cannot quite grasp. That stretch is awe.

5. Give something and stay present for what happens

This is the 365give practice at its most intentional. Giving positions you both to experience awe and to create it in others. As the research shows, both sides of that exchange matter.

Try this: make one deliberate give this week. Your time, your attention, a small act of help for someone who needs it. When you do, stay present for the moment of connection it creates. Notice what happens inside you when the give lands.\

The science of awe starts with one moment of wonder

Jeremy Hansen travelled 400,000 kilometres, looked back at a small planet hanging in the dark, and what he saw was clarity: that we are here to lift each other up.

The science of awe tells us that the same shift in perspective is available to all of us, every day, without leaving the ground. It lives in a piece of music that stops you mid-task, in a view that makes you forget to check your phone, in the sight of a stranger doing something kind for someone they will never see again. These are the wonders of life: ordinary, accessible, and genuinely transformative.

One give a day is where it starts.

Looking for your daily give? Explore ideas at 365give’s daily giving page and start building your giving habit, one small act at a time.

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