Welcome everyone to Midday Magazine for this February 29th, 2024.
I have your host, James J. Mayel, off here.
And welcoming into the studio, our great friend, Jackie Carentini,
human development and relationship educator with UW-Madison Extension Wood County.
Jackie, good to see you.
Hey, I appreciate the time as always, Jackie.
You know how much I love talking with you and our audience,
learns every time you join us.
I don't want to get in your way here, but I do want to tell you,
I'm very excited about our topic today.
You always got good stuff for us.
This is a really special one.
Power of awe, Jackie.
That's that just alone, that sentence, that phrase, the power of awe really hits you.
Yeah, you just get moved by that right away.
I'll give you a background story of actually where I came up with this.
So this is a recent program I presented a couple of weeks ago to a very large,
like hundreds of people, statewide audience, so it was appealing to other people too.
But I teach in person and I go to different libraries and I have, you know,
scheduled appointments.
And so last year, but a year and a half ago, I was in Marshfield waiting for someone to come.
And they didn't come.
So I usually wait for about a half an hour after someone doesn't show up.
Just like he's running late, you know, whatever.
And so I was looking at several magazines and journal articles.
And there is the Journal of Mindfulness.
And you and I talk about Mindfulness a lot.
And I absolutely love this magazine.
I should get it.
I don't know.
But anyway, this is all meant to be.
So in there was an article about this book by a researcher called Dacker Keltner.
And it was on awe.
And I immediately was like, oh my gosh, I like this is me.
Like I have to get this.
I have to get this book.
I have to look into this.
Like this is just amazing.
So I truly believe the world all kind of lines up.
And so now we're about a year later.
And I've had the opportunity not only to read the book,
to dig into a lot of this research.
And it is, it's awesome not to be too silly, but it's pretty cool, right?
So I think, you know, if I said to you, what do you think of,
or what's the picture that pops in your head when I say aw.
Oh, Mike children.
Yeah.
Oh, good one, yep.
Awesome.
Yeah, there you go, awesome.
Yeah, so a lot of times, you know, people think of like, oh, you know,
a very clear crisp winter night sky.
Beautiful sun, right?
Yeah, oh, yeah, there's stars from one side of the horizon to the other,
or yeah, sunrise, sunset, waves, mountains for the first time.
Children do come up, you know, sometimes the birth of my child's death,
if you've experienced death, you know, last breath going out of someone's chest,
you know, that kind of thing, seeing a kid walk for the first time, you know,
there's many, we could do many, many, many, many different things.
But we all kind of, you know, typically go to nature first.
But what's in this book, what Decker talks about is that there are so many elements of awe
and how awe is so beneficial to us on a daily basis that we actually need to practice awe
and we need to try to capture that and make it a part of our every day.
And, you know, you think about that and I always tell folks, you know, think about a child.
And I love being around toddlers because I feel like toddlers walk around in a state of all
all the time, right? Like, if you've been around a toddler, like they're literally like,
right? Like anything you could like open the cupboard and they go,
yeah, there's nothing like it. Yeah, or, you know, every time they see you, you open the door
and you could be the president of the United States, right? Queen of England, like they are so
in awe, just to, you know, see you greet you, right? Like, okay, when do we lose that? Like,
when at what point do we lose that sense of wonder and awe? And so that's kind of what this is.
It's really thinking about, it's there, you guys. All is around us all day, every day. We have to
get out of our heads. And you and I've talked about mindfulness before, but get out of our heads,
be present in the moment, look for it and then reap the benefits of it and what it does for us
as a person, as, you know, part of our self-care plan as part of just kind of being. So,
if I start off like with what is awe, one definition of awe is, awe is the emotion that arises
when we encounter vast mysteries of the world that transcend our understanding of things that
are happening around us. That's a great description. Wow. Right. Okay. So, you know, just kind of
sit in that for a second. And then I like to follow up with, awe shatters your expectations.
It stops you in your tracks and it evokes mindfulness from the outside.
Hmm. Right. Oh, great description. And it does. It does. If you think about the last time you
experienced awe, whether it was nature or whether it was human nature, it does. It literally
like gobsmacks you and it's like holy smokes. Like where did that come from? It takes your breath
away. And I've asked folks like what, you know, what happens? How would you describe it? And they'd
say like, oh, just, you know, holy smokes. Blindsided me. Took my breath away. I can't think. And
that, yeah, that's awe. Like one thing that stood out to me and just reading what you sent over
Jackie and doing a little homework on this. When I'm first reading it, one of the first things that
pops in my head is the idea of that awe makes you and it keeps you, it gets you in the moment.
It makes you, and there's so few times in my own life that I do that. So, I had never thought
of that with awe. When I see, I'm so spoiled with this seat here. I got, I see the sunrise
every morning. And it never gets old to me. There's never a rerun out there. And when that happens,
I usually is rustling as a round design, crazy man around here in the morning. But in that moment,
boom, I'm just standing there and I'm just looking out there. I'm seeing an eagle pass by and I'm
actually in the moment. And I never thought about it. I never associated that with being an awe.
So I really appreciated having that. I'll take that with me the rest of my life. The other part that
stood out to me about this too of those moments and they can be many, many awe moments in your day.
You and I have touched on this too. Taking the wins. Taking those little wins. To me, there are
no small wins in life. You're in a hurry and you get all green lights. That's a win. Enjoy that.
Be in the moment. Take that win. Feel good from it. When you have these moments of awe,
that's a win. That's a good thing. That's something that you can add to your day with.
Absolutely. So one of the things I teach in and many of our programs around self-care and
mindfulness and mental health is how do we evoke more happiness? How do we evoke more joyful
feeling throughout the day? You are absolutely right. No one. If you do good for you, no one
has everything roses 99-100% of the time. It's not right. We have a good attitude for it,
but here's the good thing. There is something good in it. We can look for a lesson. We can look for
gratitude. There's something to be thankful for even in the worst of times. And what research
tells us is that in those worst of times, the ability to find something to be thankful for,
the ability to find awe is so much more powerful than when everything is going great because it
won. It takes your mind off of the crud. It bounces us out faster. So everybody has highs and lows
in your ability to be present in the moment. Be grateful or find gratitude. And think of something
bigger than us. And that's what awe is. It's something that's outside our comprehension.
It's bigger than us. And if we can focus on that, it takes us out of whatever we're coping with or
we're dealing with that might seem insurmountable and it helps us hop back out faster. So that's
some of that kind of data. Why? And then there's the, you know, physically, like physically, we have
physical reactions to it, right? So it slows your heart rate. It literally makes you feel smaller.
So in this particular book that I was talking about, by Decker Keltner,
he talks about that one of the research projects they did is they actually took folks that were by
they're visiting Yosemite, okay? So beautiful, amazing, you know, takes your breath away, right?
And so they took folks that were right next to Yosemite had just gone and witnessed this.
And then they said draw a picture of, you know, what you saw and of yourself, you know,
at Yosemite. And then they went 60 miles on the road and they went to a gas station and they said,
okay, now draw a picture of Yosemite and yourself next to Yosemite.
The people who are next to Yosemite and we're there and had just been there,
drew themselves as tiny, tiny people. Because awe makes us feel small in the world and it makes us
realize that there is so much more around us. So then there were further studies that people who
experienced awe, actually their handwriting is smaller, their perception is smaller. Because you
realize that you and your problems in your world are not as big as you thought that you are just
this tiny, tiny component of something so much larger, which again, really good for our mental
health, our well-being, which grounds us. Again, which then physically lowers our heart rate,
calms us. We get that happy hormone, you and I have talked about this a lot, but we get that
chemical release of those endorphins. And that, you know, happy hormones in our head. So you get
a physical reaction to it. So you do get a shot of happiness, literally, your heart rate slows,
like all of this good stuff. So there's a physical reason of why I'm telling you to do this.
Because it is good for our health, like it is really important. So one of the things that Dr.
Keltner did is they, the series of research, but in the book they talk about they went to many,
many countries. I'm not, don't quote me. I think it was over 60 countries. And they asked people
several questions. One is, what, what do you describe as awe? What was your last experience with awe?
And then how did it make you feel? Okay. And so all around the world, different genders,
different nationalities, different socioeconomic status, right? So this is worldwide. And they were
able to catarize it down into eight different sections of awe. So in the beginning, you know,
the first thing I asked you was like, you know, what do you think of when you think of awe? And you
said your kids. And so generally kids nature is kind of what most folks say. I think what we think
of at least here in the United States, you're right. Sunrise, you know, the stars, the ocean,
you know, Grand Canyon. That's kind of what stuff people think of. So that is one component, right?
So that is one thing of awe is nature. So seeing something that just takes your breath away. And
you mentioned that I am a sucker for this too because of where I live in my commute. You know,
my day is made when I see an eagle in the morning on my way home, right? I literally physically go
like this. Yes, me too. Because I'm lucky. Because I'm lucky for it, right? And then I see it,
and then I'm like, it doesn't happen every day, but when you do see it, it feels good. Yeah.
Yeah. So, you know, that's so there is. So, you know, it can be, it can be something that,
but it's this idea of, yeah, to envelop that. So nature is part of it. Other people is one of the
categories. So it could be your children. It could be people around you. You know, that's just
experiencing a lot of times it has to do with profound gratitude. So when someone else does something
like, you know, so in the book, he gives examples like donating a kidney, right? So when you see
that someone gives that ultimate sacrifice of donating, you know, part of their body to someone
else, it is in awe, right? Like we're totally, I'm going to use that word again, like totally
gobsmacked of like, wow, like you, I can't even fathom that, right? Like a holy smokes.
The next one I love this is, you probably not heard of this one, but it's called Collective
Effervescence. And it's this idea of when you are in a group of thousands of people that feeling,
it literally vibrates through you. So examples are like in a concert or in a very large auditorium
with thousands of people experiencing something at the same time. People talked about this even
like a political rallies. They talked about it like, you know, in England, seeing, you know,
the king and the queen. Again, concerts comes out a lot. But this idea of you are with thousands
of people experiencing something at the same time. And there almost is like an emotion that runs
through everybody and you can physically feel it, like a vibration that you can physically feel
that I am here with thousands of people experiencing something at the same time.
Wow. As you're saying that, I can't be alone in this. Other people are thinking of that moment,
you know, when that's happening. And a lot of us, I think, are thinking of a concert, a music concert
or something like that. Oh, that's, I never thought of that before. Interesting. And it's funny years
and years ago. I don't know how many, but when Obama's were running for presidency, Mrs. Obama,
Michelle had come to Wasa to speak. And we had to stand in line for hours. And I can remember
feeling that. And I didn't know it at the time, but just even standing in line. And I can literally
remember and having this conversation with colleagues like, oh my gosh, to be with people who think
the same thing you do or similar, you know, and we're literally standing outside in Marathon Park,
right? But when you're with thousands of people who have a similar, you know, thought process
and thinking and it was just like, wow, this is cool, right? And so that, yeah, that's that collective
and for instance. So that's one of the categories. One of them is visual design. So these are things
that generally happen in nature. So this would be like the pattern on a pineapple, right? Or the
scales on an alligator or, you know, ocean waves. Or there's some parts in nature where, you know,
some parts of the world where two oceans meet and they're two two separate colors. And there's,
you know, it's so amazing to see that. Right? Yeah. So this is that where it mesmerizes you. It
literally sucks you in. You're staring at this and it's almost like a, you know, one of those
things where you can see it kind of moving and you're like, sucks you in. That's that visual. Like,
it just, it takes again, can't even fathom that this is in nature. This is here like, wow,
is a buzz out like. When I was, when I first started living out in California, my friend that I was
living with Willie's like, you ever seen the fault line? Like, what are you talking about? It's like,
oh, the fault line. We're when there's PanGee and the planet broke and everything. And I'm like,
oh, sure, I'd love to see that. I love history. We went there and I wasn't prepared for it to hit
me. It's just earth. Yeah. You know, it doesn't seem like it would, oh, how would it, but you go over
there and you can't help but feel the history and the vibe of it. And there's a literal vibe that
comes from it. It's a moment I'll never forget. That is such an interesting thing, too, that
there's a note to that. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good one, too. Okay. So I'm going to go with that. I'm
going to piggyback on another one that kind of leads into another one that's called a mystical
experience. Okay. And so it could be something like that. It could be a physical place. It could be
something that happens, you know, that you just cannot, it could be faith. It could be not.
It could be something that you just can't absolutely explain, right? Something happens and you
know the world is aligning and you were meant to be there in that time and place, but you can't
explain it, right? Like, there is no explanation. I feel it. I physically feel it. And I know
something happened, but I don't, you know, and so again, no matter what anybody believes or whatever.
So that's another category is this kind of mystical experience. I can physically feel as I know
something has happened, but I know somebody outside me had some power and control here, right? Huge
and it doesn't make a difference what your beliefs are, but that's so that's another category is
kind of a mystical experience. Another one that we often have all experienced, but we probably didn't
even realize it was awe is music. So music evokes awe. So a lot of times, again, when I'm doing this
a too large group, I'll ask, you know, like the last time you were listening to something and
it literally brought you to tears, you know, and I get a lot of the same answers, or you know, like,
oh, um, at someone's finially, you know, someone was singing Ave Maria. You bet, right?
You know, and there's different things are a friend of mine. She is recently retired,
but she has played in her community orchestra for a long time. She plays the French horn,
and she sent me an email afterward and she said, Jackie, I never even thought about it. She goes,
but I literally get that every time we are playing together. She goes, it literally is like a
vibration that goes through my body. And I get the chills and it's this part of being something else
and that music does for me. And she goes, and that is why I do it, right? Like that is what I do.
And so, music is powerful, music is extremely, extremely powerful, and so it could be lots of
different things, you know, it could be different instruments, it could be a particular song,
but that idea of, again, something that moves you and you get this feeling of holy smokes.
This is coming from someplace else, right? And I'm sure we've all experienced that, whether it is,
and it's interesting. So in this research, I talk about, it could be a rock concert,
like, and it could be a hymn in church, and it could be an instrumental of a cello.
Like, it really doesn't make a difference what music it is, but it evokes something so deep
down in you and so raw that you, like, again, takes your breath away. Tears form in your eyes,
and you don't know something's like, what's happening? You're like, I don't even know. I don't know,
I don't know what's happening, right? So you can probably all think of an example of music.
That does that as well. And then the last one is life and death. And so this is like,
the birth of a baby. So if you've experienced your own children or someone else's
that actually coming into the world, again, no words, right? I think back, I probably
share this a lot, but when my son was 22, when my son was born, I had three nieces.
They were all born within six months of each other. And so my son was the last, he was born in April
and then starting, but the due dates were all very close together. But one of my nieces was born
very, very premature. She was born at one pound, nine ounces, and at 24 weeks, right? Beautiful,
young woman, you would not know today. But at that time, I was very pregnant, and they were
living on the east coast. And I went down to Duke to visit. And that baby took whole hand
and reached out on my fingernail. And the whole entire hand was the size of my thumbnail.
And she held my thumbnail, right? And so those fingernails were the, you know, just teeny, teeny
tiny, but wrinkles in the nails, you know, wrinkles in the knuckles and the whole thing. And like,
how can something that's the size of a nickel be so detailed? And so that's, for me, that's what
I think of, like, I'm like, all like, to this day, it's been 22 years, and I still, like, takes my
breath away. I literally telling you the story of a sick feeling that put on my stomach, right?
Like, wow, it was a, like, I will never not be able to get those emotions, you know, from that
experience. So birth does that, right? It's just this amazing thing. And on the other hand of that,
is the other end of the spectrum is death as well. So, you know, if you've ever experienced someone
take their last breath, or, you know, being with them in the end, there is this sense of peace.
There is just a different, it is a different experience. And a lot of folks say, yeah,
not that I necessarily want to do it again, but it was definitely something that I will never forget,
right? And it takes your breath away because there is almost this, again, a sense of peace that
folks don't even have words for it. Like, I don't even have a way to describe it to you.
That's what folks say about that. So, um, so those are the categories. So I think, you know,
why do we talk about this? Um, there are ways, like you said, every single day for us to see,
oh, um, in part of it is, you know, being present in the moment. So now that I described all the
categories of all, um, you know, really being present in the moment, getting out of our heads,
put your flip and phones down, you know, I want you to listen to the radio, but I also want you
to be present, you know, in just in, you know, nothingness, um, and use your senses. What do you see?
What do you smell? What are you here? What do you taste? What do you feel? Um, and what do you see
around you? And just letting that be, um, and that sounds, you know, almost facetious, like, oh,
okay, just be. Yeah, that's great, Jackie. Um, but no, seriously, if you can just be and notice
what's around you and then let that sink in and get the goosebumps and get that you will realize
your breath slows, your heart rate slows. Um, you have clearer thoughts. You are able to, you know,
if you're dealing with something or struggling, you're able to hop out faster because you are smaller
and you realize that your problems are not as big as you thought they were in the big grand scheme
of the world. And so much of what we're talking about here, Jackie, it comes back to being in the
moment or, uh, this craving that I think human beings have, whether we realize it or not,
of being a part of things and realizing the adjustment that you make in your mind when you realize
you're not the center of the universe, you know, that the world doesn't, you know, that you are,
you are one, uh, of many. And I think that for some people, they get a little taken back by that
or, or that, but I think for the majority of people, especially once you come around to it and
everything, there's a comfort, there's a piece that comes with that. Yeah, you need a reminder.
I think we do, um, as it's in our nature, you guys, like we don't want to say that we're selfish,
but human beings are self-centered, like that is in our nature. So yeah, any reminder,
that's why we say things like practice daily gratitude because if you can get yourself out of
yourself and focus on someone else, the benefits of you even, you know, doing random acts of kindness
and, you know, seeing things that are good around you are so beneficial for our mental health
and our wellbeing. We can build up things so much in our heads in this, this issue that may seem
like a big deal to us, it may not be to others. And when you do this, when you kind of realize that
you're a part of a big scheme, a big, uh, and you're, you're, you're one of many and everything,
that problem may not seem as bad. It may not seem as big and may help you focus on these big wins.
There's a, there's a beauty to that. There's a piece that comes with that that I, uh, I look forward
to others being able to experience and everything. Yeah, absolutely. And that is why we say do this.
You know, so one of the things folks, okay, so what's, you know, the last step, like, well,
well, so what does that mean, Jackie, that sounds great, right? Look, I saw a lot. Do it every day.
Right? So one of the things we talk about, you said, you know, you start your window every morning,
you know, taking all walk, we call it an all walk, um, you know, just try to give yourself even,
I always tell folks start with one minute, you know, mindful minute, um, be present in the moment
for one minute without the stuff in your head, you know, um, not worrying about what's for
yourself or not worrying about your laundry, not worrying about, you know, be open to what you see
and you will be amazed at what you see, right? Cause you are now seeing, you know, Eagles and Hawks
and Pelicans and the smile on someone's face when someone walks in the room. Yes, or, you know,
being moved by music or, you know, all the categories we talked about. So you put a smile on
our face, Jackie, every time you stop by, we greatly appreciate you. Thank you so much for the time.
And, and for, for all of, for helping all of us, uh, we really do appreciate it. So many of the
things I've heard from our listeners, they helped me, they helped people out there. You are
appreciated. Thank you. We'll have more, we'll talk again real soon. We'll have more midday
magazine free tomorrow right here at WFHR, locally grown radio.
