KarunaNews Story

Awe is “the emotion we experience when we encounter vast mysteries that we don’t understand,” said Dacher Keltner, psychologist and co-founder of the Greater Good Science Center. Keltner discovered that awe is very good for us. It activates the vagus nerve, prompting relaxation and lessening of anxiety. It generates a sense of joy and curiosity about the world around us. Maybe most importantly, awe shifts focus outward, increasing our capacity to care for people and issues beyond ourselves. In both children and adults, experiencing awe helps shape us to be people oriented toward others and the world beyond us. For parents who want to nurture their children’s spiritual formation, focusing on awe is a good place to start. Since young children seem tilted toward awe and predisposed to feel amazed, all parents really need to do is follow what their children are feeling awed by and go from there.