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Speaker 1: Hi everybody, and welcome to this week's My Joe Monday.

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Speaker 1: So last week I did my first solo My Jo

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Speaker 1: Monday as Paul was away, and I'm doing it again

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Speaker 1: this week. In fact, I'm going to be doing the

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Speaker 1: next few because Paul is knee deep in his PhD

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Speaker 1: at the moment, so I will take over and free

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Speaker 1: him up a bit. And I do apologize that I

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Speaker 1: am sounding slightly nasally. I'm at the tail end of

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Speaker 1: a pretty bad lurgie that's been going around our family,

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Speaker 1: in fact going around our village, so that's why I'm

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Speaker 1: sounding like this. But today we're going to dive into

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Speaker 1: the power of awe and how it can make a

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Speaker 1: difference to your everyday life. So or is something I

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Speaker 1: intentionally tap into quite regularly, and it was introduced to

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Speaker 1: me during my Japanese psychology certification. I mean, I knew

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Speaker 1: what all was and I had felt it, but I

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Speaker 1: hadn't actually thought about it over and above seeing some

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Speaker 1: amazing site or maybe watching a David at Edinburgh documentary.

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Speaker 1: And I attended the residential component of the course in

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Speaker 1: the beautiful state of Vermont in the US, and Vermont

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Speaker 1: is where many people travel to see the changing of

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Speaker 1: the leaves and at the start of fall, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's hiking country skiing in winter. It's a beautiful place.

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Speaker 1: And I was at the Toto Institute, which is just

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Speaker 1: outside of Burlington, right next to a beautiful national park.

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Speaker 1: And part of the program we did was we did

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Speaker 1: this extensive experiential work on controlling our attention, and we

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Speaker 1: learned to shift our focus from inward self centered mind

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Speaker 1: chatter to outward so more nature centered focus, so going

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Speaker 1: from our internal world to the external world. Nature is

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Speaker 1: a major aspect of Marita therapy, which comes from Japanese psychology,

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Speaker 1: and the work involved spending time observing nature in both

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Speaker 1: its grand and its minute forms, and noticing the impact

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Speaker 1: that this attentional control had on our minds and our bodies.

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Speaker 1: And for me, the experience was quite powerful and I've

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Speaker 1: really embraced it ever since, and I practice it as

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Speaker 1: much as I can, especially if my attention is inward

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Speaker 1: on my thoughts and my emotions that are causing me

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Speaker 1: stress or worry. And you know, this is my default

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Speaker 1: is to go inward because I'm human, and like most humans,

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Speaker 1: this is what we do. We're very focused on our

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Speaker 1: inward world. So here's a question for you. When was

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Speaker 1: the last time you felt a sense of awe? So

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Speaker 1: maybe it was on holidays, like maybe you've been to

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Speaker 1: the Grand Canyon, which is on my bucket list. I

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Speaker 1: think it would be amazing to go there. Or maybe

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Speaker 1: it's gazing up at the night sky filled with stars.

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Speaker 1: Or perhaps it was something as simple as watching and

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Speaker 1: a spider spinning its web. So even just for me,

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Speaker 1: even just observing a spider web can bring me a

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Speaker 1: feeling of awe. You know, I remember when there was

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Speaker 1: this spider and it was building this web, and it

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Speaker 1: looked like it was suspended in the air, and we

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Speaker 1: stopped and observed it, and I think the word wow

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Speaker 1: just came out of our mouths. And that word really

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Speaker 1: reflects that feeling of awe because it is quite a

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Speaker 1: profound emotion. It's one that can make us feel feel small,

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Speaker 1: but in a good way because it connects us with

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Speaker 1: something that's greater than ourselves. And when we connect with

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Speaker 1: something greater than ourselves, it can increase our gratitude and

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Speaker 1: it can even even kind of help us to help others.

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Speaker 1: But I'll get into what exactly it is and why

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Speaker 1: it's so powerful. So I did a bit of digging

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Speaker 1: and I found research papers on all, which really fascinated

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Speaker 1: me because I just didn't it wasn't something that I

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Speaker 1: considered people would actually research, But there's quite a lot

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Speaker 1: of research behind it, and what it's shown is that

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Speaker 1: ALL is more than just this fleeting feeling. It's this

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Speaker 1: complex emotion that can have a significant impact on our

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Speaker 1: mentor and our physical well being. And what they've found

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Speaker 1: is that ALL can release feel good hormones and that's

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Speaker 1: probably not a surprise. You know, hormones like joepamine and oxytocin,

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Speaker 1: which most of you will know, play this crucial role

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Speaker 1: in reducing our stress and anxiety, and it conduced this feeling,

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Speaker 1: induced this feeling of happiness, and we need these hormones

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Speaker 1: for our overall sense of wellbeing. And one fascinating aspect

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Speaker 1: of AW is that doesn't always require this grand life

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Speaker 1: changing event, like you don't have to go on an

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Speaker 1: extravagant holiday and watch sunsets or visit famous landmarks to

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Speaker 1: experience or because all is all around us, it's just

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Speaker 1: waiting to be noticed and discovered in everyday moments of

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Speaker 1: our life. And if you're into nature, photography. I'm pretty

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Speaker 1: confident that you would probably be tapping into awe through

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Speaker 1: that process of the photography. The other day, there were

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Speaker 1: so many photos of the Southern Lights, which I know

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Speaker 1: is in an everyday thing, but it was so awe

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Speaker 1: inspiring and I missed it. So I had a lot

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Speaker 1: of awe jealousy because there would have been just so

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Speaker 1: many people with this amazing feeling watching the incredible lights

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Speaker 1: in the sky. But you don't have to wait for

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Speaker 1: the next round of the Southern Lights. Next time you

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Speaker 1: go for a walk, stop to notice what's around you,

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Speaker 1: even the all things that you would normally just walk

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Speaker 1: straight past. So maybe it's the intricate details of a leaf.

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Speaker 1: You look at the veins, the textures, the colors, be

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Speaker 1: curious about what's there, and notice the sense of wonder

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Speaker 1: and amazement that it can bring. You know, I get

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Speaker 1: a sense of awe gazing out at the ocean because

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Speaker 1: underneath the surface there's so much life, and it's so

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Speaker 1: vast and powerful, and it reminds me that long after

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Speaker 1: I'm gone, the sea will still be there. And it's

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Speaker 1: these moments of connection with nature that can provide us

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Speaker 1: with this powerful sense of awe, and it can ground

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Speaker 1: us in the present moment and remind us that there

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Speaker 1: is so much more to this life and to this

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Speaker 1: world that's beyond what's going on in our heads in

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Speaker 1: this moment. And this is important because, especially in today's world,

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Speaker 1: we live in a world filled with distractions. Days often

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Speaker 1: consume by devices and screens, notifications and this constant rush

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Speaker 1: and stress. And even when we do get a break,

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Speaker 1: we can easily justify that we're relaxing when we're scrolling

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Speaker 1: on social media or answering texts or just taking one

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Speaker 1: last look at emails, and these are all inputs and

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Speaker 1: they're overloading our poor brains, and our brains are struggling

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Speaker 1: to cope with it all. And something I tend to

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Speaker 1: do when I go for a run or I go

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Speaker 1: for a walk is I listen to a podcast or music.

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Speaker 1: And that's fine. But something that I try and do,

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Speaker 1: and I invite you to consider, is balancing this out.

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Speaker 1: I have a client who was telling me that he

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Speaker 1: has learnt to practice the pause, and I really loved

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Speaker 1: that phrase, and I think it's related to finding awe,

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Speaker 1: because if we can pause, just pause in life, take

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Speaker 1: our earbuds out, put our devices away and deliberately turn

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Speaker 1: our attention outwards and feeling this sense of or at

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Speaker 1: the amazing world around us, and that can even just

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Speaker 1: be in our backyard. Then it can bring joy and

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Speaker 1: calmness and amazement into our lives. And it's so easy

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Speaker 1: to overlook the beauty that surrounds us because we're so

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Speaker 1: busy being distracted by other things. But if we can

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Speaker 1: practice the pause and take a moment to soak in

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Speaker 1: our environment, both the big expansive things and the small things,

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Speaker 1: we can tap into. What I know is and what

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Speaker 1: science is now saying is this incredible powerful tool for

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Speaker 1: calming our nervous system. So maybe you could practice the

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Speaker 1: pause today. So put away your devices, even just for

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Speaker 1: ten minutes, and go outside and notice something in nature.

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Speaker 1: And if you've got kids, especially little kids, they are

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Speaker 1: really good at this, So take them with you and

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Speaker 1: see what they discover. And maybe it's a spiderweb. Be

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Speaker 1: curious about the precision and the effort that has gone

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Speaker 1: into each strand and the way it glistens, even the

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Speaker 1: fact that the spider knew that that spot is the

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Speaker 1: ideal position to find its prey. So spend a few

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Speaker 1: moments observing the detail, the texture, the color of what's

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Speaker 1: out there and see if you can bring that wow feeling,

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Speaker 1: that feeling of awe. Because what awe does for me

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Speaker 1: is it reminds me of the beauty and complexity of

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Speaker 1: the world, and we often take this for granted. What

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Speaker 1: it's done is it has helped me slow down and

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Speaker 1: be present and to appreciate life. It brings this sense

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Speaker 1: of gratitude and peace and wonder that can help us

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Speaker 1: to counterbalance those stresses and worries of our lives. So

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Speaker 1: thank you for joining me today. I hope this episode

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Speaker 1: has inspired you in some way to go out and

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Speaker 1: seek awe in your life. And if you want to

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Speaker 1: learn more about the science of awe, there's a book

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Speaker 1: that is about to launch. I think think you can

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Speaker 1: get it on pre order. But it's I hope I

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Speaker 1: pronounce it right. It's Dakha Keltner's book. It's d A

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Speaker 1: c h e R. And then Keltner is k E

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Speaker 1: l t n e R. And it's the Are Science,

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Speaker 1: the new science of everyday wonder and how it can

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Speaker 1: transform your life. And I'm hoping to get him on

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Speaker 1: the podcast so Paul can interview him so have a

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Speaker 1: great week hopefully filled with aw Please again, if you

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Speaker 1: love the podcast, leave a review or consider a subscribing

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Speaker 1: as it really helps us grow and gets the message

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Speaker 1: out there. And I will catch you next week