It isn't just the beauty of vast natural wonders like the Grand Canyon that can take your breath away. You can find awe in everyday things. A new research, published in the journal Emotion, found that older adults who took "awe walks" felt more positive emotions in their daily lives.
In the study, 52 older adults aged 60 to 90 were divided randomly into two groups. They were told to take at least one 15-minute walk each week for eight weeks. Volunteers in the "awe group" were instructed in how to inspire awe as they walked. "We asked them to try to see the world with fresh eyes—to take in new details of a leaf or flower, for example," Sturm says. For example, one participant from the awe group wrote about "the beautiful fall colors and how the leaves were no longer crunchy(嘎吱响) underfoot because of the rain"—the wonder that small children feel as they embrace their expanding world. However, people in the other group were less focused on the world around them. One participant wrote, "I thought about our vacation in Hawaii next Thursday."
In addition, participants were asked to take selfies(自拍) in the beginning, middle, and end of each walk. Researchers found that participants who took awe walks showed a "small self", in that they filled less of their photographs with their own image and more with the background scenery. "When we feel awe, our attention shifts from focusing on ourselves to focusing on the world around us," Sturm says. " Awe affects our social relationships because it helps us to feel more connected with the world, universe, and other people." Their smiles also grew broader by the end of the study. "We analyzed the intensity of their smiles in the selfies, and participants who took awe walks displayed greater smiles over time than those who took control walks. The former reported greater positive emotions in general, including more joy and gratitude."
Participants in the control group took more frequent walks than those people in the awe group, the researchers discovered. But walking more didn't result in positive changes in emotional health or in the way their selfies were taken. This suggests that the results were mainly due to experiencing awe, and not just in spending time exercising.
