Hearing that our workshop compadres keep their relationships fresh and evolving gives me such joy so this post from Angie brought a smile to my face and a tear to my eye. Dacher Keltner’s next MEA Cultivating Awe workshop is December 15-20 in Baja. It’s a perfect way to prepare for the holidays.
“The key is not to prioritize your schedule but to schedule your priorities.”
— Stephen Covey
In a recent private women’s retreat in Avon, Colorado, I experienced a sacred pause. Surrounded by snow-draped mountains and the kind of stillness that calms the soul, I gathered with a powerful circle of women. We first met at Modern Elder Academy (MEA) in December 2023, during Dacher Keltner’s “Art & Science of Awe” workshop. What started as a shared learning experience soon evolved into a sisterhood rooted in reverence for life and one another. We each left that experience with a new lens for what we want to focus on more in our daily lives: awe.
Dacher Keltner, a leading researcher on emotions and author of Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, defines awe as:
“The feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your current understanding of the world.”
Over the course of the week, Keltner introduced us to eight pillars of awe, and how each pillar results in an awe experience. They are:
– In acts of moral beauty that reminded us of human goodness,
– In the collective effervescence of shared purpose and belonging,
– In quiet moments surrounded by nature,
– In the stirrings of our souls through music,
– In the intricate beauty of art and design,
– In sacred rituals and moments of spiritual connection,
– In witnessing the sacred transitions of birth and death,
– And in the big ideas that reframe what we thought we knew.
Armed with these pillars, we left the Baja campus with a new lens towards witnessing awe. That workshop changed us. It taught us that awe isn’t just an emotion; it’s a practice, one that can open the heart, quiet the ego, and rewire the brain toward greater presence and connection. In other words, awe expands us. We expanded our awareness.
Since that first gathering, we’ve each committed to weaving awe into our daily lives through nature, moral beauty, collective effervescence, and more. Our retreat to Avon was about more than curriculum, it was about communion. This was an intimate and soulful gathering designed to deepen and expand the work we had started in Baja. Somewhere between eagle watching, setting intentions, movement, riverside hikes, deep belly laughs, shared meals, and silent mornings, a new word was born:
Awepportunity (noun & verb)
noun – A moment created or discovered where awe can be experienced through intentional presence and openness.
verb – The act of intentionally seeking or creating conditions where awe can emerge.
The Practice of Awepportunity invites you to:
- Take intentional action to notice beauty, kindness, nature, connection, and miracles woven into the ordinary.
- Shift your attention from autopilot to wonder.
- Curate your own “Awe Reel”: a mental collection of vivid, meaningful moments you can revisit for strength, inspiration, or peace.
Awepportunity is not passive. It’s not accidental. It’s a way of living and being, with your heart, mind, and senses open. It’s where wonder meets intention. It’s using awe as a source of nourishment for healing. Here are three examples of how one may use awe as nourishment:
1. Awe as a Remedy for Busyness: Reclaiming Presence
Example: A nonprofit leader, constantly racing between meetings and deadlines, pauses during a morning walk when a sunrise spills golden light through the trees. For a moment, time slows. She feels small but connected, like she belongs to something much bigger than her to-do list. That quiet awe invites her back to herself. She breathes differently. She returns to work not just more centered, but with a renewed sense of what matters most.
Healing nourishment:
Awe interrupts the autopilot of busyness, helping us move from doing to being. It restores presence, which is essential for nervous system regulation and emotional clarity.
2. Awe as a Soothing Agent for Stress: Widening Perspective
Example: A teacher overwhelmed by the mounting pressures of a chaotic school year watches a documentary showing the migration of monarch butterflies. She feels tears running down her face. Not from sadness, but from wonder. Something about the scale and mystery of nature soothes her nervous system. The awe she feels expands her perspective and loosens the grip of stress. She realizes she can soften, even when her circumstances don’t.
Healing nourishment:
Awe acts as a natural counterbalance to stress. It reduces excessive self-focus, activates the vagus nerve (tied to compassion), and cultivates perspective, reminding us we are part of something more expansive than our current struggle.
3. Awe to Heal Relationship Struggles
My Example: In the middle of a challenging conversation with one of my kids, I felt myself tightening. Later, I looked at an old photo with their tiny, clay molded hands next to it. I remembered the miracle of being their mom. That moment of awe softened my heart and reminded me: love leads better than control. The relationships matter more than being right.
Why it heals:
Awe reconnects us to what’s sacred, even in struggle. It dissolves ego, reopens compassion, and helps us respond with presence instead of reaction.
The retreat in Avon with my circle of friends reminded me: we don’t summon awe by chasing it. We open ourselves to it by slowing down, tuning in, and making space for what already is. Not through grand gestures, but through quiet glances, shared stories, and sacred stillness. When we slow down, not to speed up, but just to be present and alive. When we attune to awe, we also attune to ourselves. Awe isn’t something we grasp onto; it’s something we invite.
To my incredible MEA compadres, thank you for walking this path with such grace and depth.
To Dacher, thank you for the research and the wisdom that gave us a language for the sacred.
And to you, dear reader, may you find your awepportunities in the moments that unfold each day.
They’re all around you.
You just have to be willing to tune in.
-Angie
Angie Lion is the Chief Soul Officer of Black River Performance Management, a consultant, facilitator, coach, and soon-to-be author (January 2026) who helps people navigate life’s transitions using emotional and transitional intelligence to foster resilience and provide clarity in the storms of life. She brings grounded wisdom from lived experience and soulful strategy to support meaningful personal and professional growth.