seeking awe

As I write this, we’re back in Bath, United Kingdom.* The last time we were here, in December, the trip was only for three days and primarily for picking up the keys to our tiny flat, getting utilities set up, and buying a bed and a couple of chairs so that it was usable for future visits. As a result, we didn’t spend any leisurely time exploring our new town** — before we knew it, it was time to head back to the airport and make our way home.

This time, however, we’ve had the opportunity to visit family, and we’re continuing to do things to help make the flat more livable. But mostly, the main purpose of this trip has been to experiment with what it would be like to actually live here for more than three days: instead of viewing this as a vacation, we’ve been keeping our work schedules and seeing how our wifi holds up, we’ve been figuring out how to do business meetings with huge time differences, that sort of thing. So far, so good. But the best part is that we’ve had a bit more breathing room to check out our new neighbourhood: we found a good local pub (essential!) and scoped out restaurants and a grocery store. I’m happy to report that they are all wonderful, which — whew! — is a relief.

Last week, we realized we needed to grab some towels and sheets (and pick up a few things to bring home for my anglophile Mom), so after work, we took an hour or two to make our way into the centre of town to run some errands. Bath is a gorgeous place, and it’s hard to walk around the city without a feeling a sense of wonder. I’m walking in the footsteps of the Romans, I thought as we passed the Roman Baths. People have worshipped at this site for a thousand years, I mused as we stopped to admire Bath Abbey. Making our way through the wet cobblestone streets, I was reminded how much I love the feeling of awe. And I had a nagging suspicion that it would do me some good to do a better job of seeking it out.

Turns out I’m not wrong. Defined as “the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your understanding of the world,” relatively new research indicates that feeling awe can be good for your health. Apparently, feeling awe can slow our heart rate, relieve digestion, deepen breathing and even quiet negative self-talk. Amazing, right? And the best part is that it doesn’t require visiting 1000-year-old religious sites or looking into the Grand Canyon to inspire awe; in fact, we can feel awe just by paying attention to the world around us.

We can feel awe when we read a news article about a medical or scientific breakthrough that has the potential to help humanity.

Or it can arise alongside pride when we learn someone we love has accomplished something challenging or meaningful.

Or when we witness a smile and an act of kindness between strangers.

Or we notice that despite grey, chilly winter days, crocuses and daffodils will nonetheless improbably make their appearances, reminding us that spring is not that far away.

All it takes is for us to take a moment and take it all in.

And so, my wish for all of us this week is to invite moments of awe into our days. If we receive good news this week, I hope we delight in it, marveling how lucky our lives are that we’ve received such a gift. When we make a plan to see a friend we haven’t seen in a while, I hope we breathe in how wonderful the moment is when we first catch sight of each other. Or even when we have our first sip of a particularly good coffee, I hope we marvel that we live in a world where coffee beans are grown and caring hands cultivate them, bringing them from faraway lands to our morning mugs.

And when these things happen, I hope we remember the words of that Max Ehrmann poem: even with all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

* About Bath, for those who might not have heard of it before: it’s a city located about a 90-minute train ride west of London, and is so-named for the thermal communal baths built by the Romans around 60 A.D. This fact, combined with the Georgian architecture the city has become famous for, earned it a UNESCO World Heritage designation as a place of “Outstanding Universal Value.” And for those who are less interested in history and more interested in pop culture: Bath is the primary filming location of the Netflix show Bridgerton.

** I’m aware that calling this “our new town” makes it sound like we’ve moved from Houston. We haven’t — for now and the foreseeable future, Houston is still home. An explanation is here.