The Power of “Awe” is Invaluable to Innovation
by Bill Nottingham (3 min read)
I appreciate when people on social media post what they sometimes call a “timeline cleanser,” a light-hearted distraction from the News. Recently, one post in particular caught my attention. I watched this video in “awe”of an 11-year-old girl playing drums with Foo Fighters in front of thousands of people and absolutely crushing it. It was impressive, of course, but what made it memorable was that I could almost feel the excitement of her achievement through the screen.
“Surprise is the only emotion that requires an interpretation,” says Dr. Michael Rousell, author of The Power of Surprise: How Your Brain Secretly Changes Your Beliefs. We tend not to question surprises. In a 2019 TED Talk, Rousell described how to use a surprise as a hack to change people’s negative beliefs about themselves.
Awe, the sudden feeling of respect or amazement at something unexpectedly vast or powerful, is another emotion that can scramble our circuits in good ways. As psychologist Dacher Keltner, told the Washington Post: “It makes us curious rather than judgmental. It makes us collaborative. It makes us humble, sharing, and altruistic. It quiets the ego so that you’re not thinking about yourself as much.”
In an article written for the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, he describes the results of a study in which participants watched videos while their brains were scanned. Those who were shown awe-inspiring images from the Planet Earth TV series were “extra engaged” compared to those shown neutral images.
“In other words,” the article explains, “awe may help stop us from ruminating on our problems and daily stressors. Instead, awe seems to pull us out of ourselves and make us feel immersed in our surroundings and the larger world (which may help explain its tendency to inspire generosity and a sense of connection with others.”
Connection, humility, curiosity, openness to new information — these are all invaluable to innovation.
As a parent, I am so fortunate that be reminded of these “Awe-inspiring” moments brought front and center from my kids’ daily discoveries. When you kids have that “ah-ha” moment, take them seriously and celebrate with them.
SkyGuide is a mobile app (Apple & Google) created by FifthStarLabs
Here's one activity you can try for yourself. Download the Sky Guide Mobile App (found on Apple & Android) and set your notification for the ISS and you will be notified daily as the International Space Station flies over your house. Go outside and look up, you will see what looks like a star moving across the sky and imagine that there are international scientists looking back down at you.
We need distractions from the intense focus that work life demands and the thousand of other things that tug at our minds all day. We need mental resets and “Brain Space.” Try to be more open to the wonders of the world around us, everything from bobcats returning to Ohio in record numbers to images from the Hubble telescope to kid musicians who can rock out with the pros.