Contrite clouds obscure the Grand Mesa and there is a light mist in the air. I hesitate for a moment to head out to the trail. Overcommitted with too many obligations this week, I’m overwhelmed. My body’s feeling it, too, as it’s inundated with anxiety hormones, supposedly to give my body the extra energy it needs to escape that lion. As there doesn’t appear to be any lion on my front porch, I opt for the trail! I know if I don’t get out there, I’ll be sorry later.
Once out, it’s glorious and I’m ecstatic – I’m definitely feeling a spring vibe. Air is moist, fresh as mint, and the trail isn’t frozen for a change. Bunches of Galleta grass abound and an occasional horse brush. Behind a lichen-covered Dakota sandstone boulder, a sagebrush shrub sits with limbs erect paying tribute to the morning sky. Moist sand on the trail readily imprints each step I take. Magpies, a raven, and Mourning Doves are acknowledging this new day. They and the sage prompt me to praise. I stand still and close my eyes to soak it all in. Desert skin – softened by mist, my parched spirit greedily consumes every drop. Heart becomes light, soul becomes warm. I am swept over once again by that sense of awe.
I recently heard tangible effects that come from feeling a sense of awe, on a podcast, The Science of Happiness. Although there has been very little research into the sense of awe, what research there is, suggests that a regular sense of it can improve our health, and benefit us in many ways, including: making us feel better and more satisfied, helping us be more generous and feeling more connected with humanity. The research also shows that what does provide a sense of awe for me, may be quite different for you –yours maybe holding a baby or looking up at skyscrapers in the middle of a city.
Either way, I know that my sense of awe from the trail this morning helped me to recover from the earlier adrenaline overdose. I have a new perspective, feel more whole, more tender, more present, more able to face all that today will bring. Paperwork, computer work, phone calls, appointments, meetings, chores, errands, jury duty, and all – the lion of our times. I am now ready.
Reader Comments
Thank you for the inspirational and uplifting pictures and thoughts that bring me back to the beauty and the “now”. Such a balm. AR
Very, very beautiful, produced in me a sense of awe, thank you, thank you!! SS
So much beauty all around us to be experienced. Awakening us to feel alive. K
