The Relationship Between Anxiety and Awe

There is a strong correlation between anxiety and awe, or rather, there’s a strong correlation between a sense of awe and a reduced experience of anxiety.  This makes perfect sense, as both anxiety and awe involve a specific focus and way of thinking–and each one is the opposite of the other. The relationship between anxiety and awe is fairly simple. The more we seek and create the experience of awe, the lower our anxiety becomes. 

The Experience of Anxiety

Living with anxiety can be a bit like having a slumber party in a tiny tent with a large beehive. Someone trying this would likely feel trapped, yank frantically at the zipper only to jam it in the frenzied motion, have difficulty breathing, feel afraid and worried, and think about nothing other than the pain from pending stings, and hear nothing other than the loud buzzing of the bees.

Among other things, anxiety involves

• fear
• tension
• narrow focus

The Experience of Awe

In direct contrast to anxiety, experiencing awe is much like having a slumber party with nature on a beautiful night under the stars. Beehives are located where they’re supposed to be, in places other than in a tiny tent with you. Someone experiencing this might breathe deeply and feel relaxed, peaceful, inspired, hushed, and calm.

The experience of awe involves, in part

• transcendence (rising above challenges, seeing a greater purpose beyond just yourself)
• amazement
• expansiveness

Creating Awe to Reduce Anxeity

Awe invigorates while it simultaneously calms. Awe makes people feel alive. Awe is a powerful and pleasurable tool that each and every one of us can use to reduce anxiety. Awe is such a great anti-anxiety treatment because it is anxiety’s polar opposite. We can use awe to counter and replace any type of anxiety.

Experiencing awe allows us to replace worry with wonder, rumination with release, and latching on to problems with letting go and simply being. A clinical psychologist and director of the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy, Dr. Robert Leahy explains that in instilling a sense of the enormity of the world around us, awe clears away the internal chaos of anxiety.¹ 

Awe is similar to the appreciation of beauty. Appreciation of beauty and excellence is a character trait identified by positive psychologists as one of the wellbeing-enhancing inner strengths people can possess.

A beautiful thing about the power of awe is that it is personal and it can be intentionally sought and easily experienced. There are no rules attached to awe. Someone might love getting out into nature and find the outdoors awesome. Someone else might have a great appreciation for music. Or art. Anything that inspires wonder, enjoyment, and letting go of ruminations.

The relationship between anxiety is strong. Because it’s an inverse relationship–when one goes up, the other goes down–be intentional about creating opportunities, even small ones, to experience awe and appreciate beauty. When you experience awe, you get out of your own head and into the greater world, universe, around you. And when that happens, anxiety lessens.

Reference:

^1. Flora, C. (2016, March/April). It’s not all about you! Psychology Today, 48-56.

 

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