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Our bodies respond differently when we are experiencing awe than when we are feeling joy, contentment or fear. We make a different sound, show a different facial expression. Dr. Keltner found that awe activates the vagal nerves, clusters of neurons in the spinal cord that regulate various bodily functions, and slows our heart rate, relieves digesti... See more

Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your understanding of the world,”

Experiencing awe comes from what Dr. Keltner has called a “perceived vastness,” as well as something that challenges us to rethink our previously held ideas

One of the most reliable ways to experience awe, Dr. Keltner found, was in the simple act of witnessing the goodness of others

Dr. Keltner wrote that people who find awe all around them, “are more open to new ideas. To what is unknown. To what language can’t describe.”

Awe, she believes, is “the absence of self-preoccupation.”