In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy to overlook the extraordinary in the ordinary. Yet cultivating a sense of awe—a feeling of wonder and amazement at the world around—can profoundly impact our well-being and happiness.
Kirk J. Schneider, Ph. D., is a leading spokesperson for existential-humanistic and existential-integrative psychology. He is an adjunct faculty member at Saybrook University and formerly Teachers College, Columbia University, and a co-founder and current president of the award-winning Existential-Humanistic Institute. He was also a 2022 candidate for president-elect of the American Psychological Association (APA).
Dr. Schneider is also the author or coauthor of 15 books, including Awakening to Awe, The Polarized Mind, The Depolarizing of America, and his most recent book, Life-Enhancing Anxiety: Key to a Sane World.
Awe is more than just a fleeting emotion. It’s a complex experience that involves feeling small in the presence of something vast, whether a breathtaking landscape, a powerful idea, or a profound human connection. Kirk J. Schneider, a leading expert in existential-humanistic psychology, defines awe as “the humility and wonder or sense of adventure toward living.”
According to Kirk, awe is fundamentally about being deeply moved by something. It requires a certain level of presence and openness to our internal and external experiences. This state of being present allows us to tap into a wellspring of wonder that’s always available to us, if only we learn to access it.
While happiness is often seen as the ultimate goal in life, Kirk suggests that there are dimensions beyond happiness that can be even more gratifying, especially in the long run. He describes happiness as a “light and feeling” associated with play, humor, and pleasure. While these are undoubtedly positive experiences, they tend to be passing feelings.
In contrast, emotions like joy and awe involve our whole bodily experience. They encompass what Kirk calls “the whole enchilada”—the good, the bad, and the ugly. This means being able to be present with our most vulnerable and difficult feelings as well as our most exuberant and expansive ones.
Cultivating this “fluid center,” as Kirk terms it, allows us to live a more fully gratifying life. It’s about developing the capacity to deeply matter to ourselves and others, which often requires inner work and the ability to confront and work through difficult emotions and experiences.
Cultivating a sense of awe is not about waiting for extraordinary experiences to come. Instead, it’s about learning to see the extraordinary in the ordinary, to find wonder in the everyday world. In these simple acts of presence and attention, you may experience a moment of awe, a fleeting glimpse of our vast and wondrous world.
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