As you’ll hear on my recent Midlife Chrysalis podcast episode with UC Berkeley professor Dacher Keltner, seeking awe is particularly valuable as we age. Awe right-sizes our ego while helping us feel connected to the mysteries of life that are bigger than us.
The top two pathways to experiencing awe are witnessing Moral Beauty and feeling Collective Effervescence, which surpassed the expected favorite, being in Nature. I remember when Dacher was writing his bestseller AWE, he whispered to me that MEA’s “pro-social” approach to learning and creating community were aligned with Moral Beauty and Collective Effervescence.
Couldn’t you use a little more awe in your life? What awe-some practices could you incorporate into your life?
You can spend 5 days with Dacher at our Baja campus December 15-20 in his popular annual Cultivating Awe workshop. Or experience an alternative form of awe at our Santa Fe campus December 15-22 with our annual MEA Film Fest with 60 filmmakers and 60 films joining a small group of workshop attendees on MEA themes like midlife transitions, cultivating purpose, and welcome awe into one’s life. I’ve not publicized our line-up yet, so you’re seeing the program for the first time in this document. Really proud of what we’ve put together. With Hollywood celebrities like Seth Rogen and Naomi Watts joining us (by video) as well as dozens of filmmakers in person, it’s another way to start the holidaze in a joyous spirit.
-Chip