When was the last time you felt awe? Like really felt it. It could have been feeling in awe of someone, a situation or even yourself. A moment where the breath is knocked out of your lungs. A moment where there are no words to describe how you feel. A shock moment. A wow moment.
These moments don’t need to be huge either. It could be something as simple as staring up at the night sky and realising how vast it all is. Or when you’re sitting watching tv with friends and realise how amazing it is that these people came into your life and stayed. Summed up, “awe” for me is an appreciation of a “what are the odds of that happening” moments. I want to share my most recent awe moment today.
As some of you may know, I recently directed a production of The Wedding Singer with Inverness Musical Theatre Company. It was a huge full-circle moment in and of itself for me, having first been involved with the company as a singer back in 2009! To be back and directing a show for them in the Empire Theatre of Eden Court, was a big deal! Anyway, as part of the promotion of the show, the local paper did an interview with me, a Spotlight On segment, alongside a headshot. This will become very relevant later in this blog.
It was a Thursday (or a Tuesday) morning. I get a Facebook message from one of the cast who works at Eden Court. She asks me if I’m expecting any mail. I tell her no and ask why. She goes on to tell me, and send a picture, that a letter has been delivered to the theatre with my name on it. I don’t recognise the handwriting and can’t think who it would be and why they wouldn’t have sent it to my home, or even the uni. She agrees to take it to rehearsal for me to read that evening.
Fast forward to the evening. She hands me the letter, and I open it. There’s a few of us curious about the content now – channeling our inner Miss Marple, sharing theories. I start to read aloud. There’s an address that I don’t recognise initially. I continued to read aloud.
“Dear Steph,
I saw your Spotlight On segment in the paper…”
I told you it would be relevant.
I jumped to the end of the letter, to see who it was from. Norman. Initially I think to myself ‘I don’t know any Normans.’ Then it hits me. Norman and his wife used to be frequent patrons of the hotel I worked at (Lovat Lodge Arthritic Care Hotel) between 2002-2006! In the letter, he explains that he’d recognised my face from the article and had to get in touch to congratulate me on the success.
When I say you could have knocked me over with a feather – I’m not joking.
The letter continued on to reminisce about their visits to the hotel and the banter we had – to be fair it was always a cracking week when that pair were on the guest list! At the time they were visiting the hotel I would have been ages of fourteen and seventeen, and we often spoke about what my plans were for the future. I always knew I wanted a career in the arts but had always thought it would be as an actor. Everyone – staff and guests alike – knew this all too well. We even had themed nights at the hotel, where we as the staff would dress up as famous singers, and lip sync to the song relating to the theme. Although it didn’t take long for me to be actually singing to backing tracks, over lip syncing. A highlight for me was Country Night where I dawned my jeans, boots, and gypsy top to take on the role of LeAnn Rimes. Those were the days…
Anyway, as I read the letter in front of people, the feelings of nostalgia, and indeed the news that his wife Margaret had passed was too much. So of course, I started to cry. By this point I’d stopped reading aloud and had become a sniffling mess. Abruptly I went to the toilet for a wee sob. Between feeling saddened by hearing of the loss of Margaret, and feeling so touched, that this man who I last saw in 2006, thought enough of me to handwrite a letter to say “well done, you did it, like we knew you would” was a lot.
After pulling myself together, I headed back into the rehearsal studio, and apologised to Gillian (who delivered the letter), explaining the context. In jest, I then vowed I would never receive any letters via her ever again.
I guess what I’m saying, is that there are moments of awe everywhere. This is one such example. You will never know the impact you’ve made on someone’s life unless they tell you. In the same way, people won’t know the impact they have had on you, unless you tell them. I challenge you to tell someone what they have meant to you. And don’t just do it for me – do it for you.
Research from Professor Dacher Keltner makes the case for findings daily moments of awe as a way to increase life expectancy as well as impact mood and critical thinking! (Dacher 2023 & Allen 2018). They make the case for finding moments of awe as influencing the following,
- Improve mood.
- Good for your health by reducing inflammation markers.
- Sharpen our brains.
- Decrease Materialism – placing more value on experience over the monetary.
- Humbles us.
- Expand the perception of time.
- Make us more generous.
- Make us feel more connected to life and humanity.
Surely that’s enough to get you pondering your own moments of awe and what can be gained from it? If you’re interested in reading more, I’d absolutely encourage you to read the articles and links from below. If nothing else is makes for some interesting reading!
As this ponder comes to a close, here’s what I know. Norman and I are still in touch. Since the first letter, we have exchanged a few – which reminds me that I need to write one back to him! I know that receiving the letter was a moment of awe for me. I know that I was definitely humbled by it, and it served as a reminder of you never really know how much a difference and impact you’ve had in someone’s life – whether they tell you or not. It’s just in this case, I was told. Here’s your challenge – tell someone about the positive impact they’ve had on your life. Whether it’s teachers, friends, strangers, family – tell them. Your words have power beyond imagination.
This has been a SmartPonders.
Thanks for reading. x
Bibliography
Allen, S., (2018) Eight Reasons Why Awe Makes Your Life Better [online]. Available from <https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/eight_reasons_why_awe_makes_your_life_better>
Keltner, D., (2023a) Here’s why you need to be cultivating awe in your life [online] <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/02/awe-psychology-life-death-dacher-keltner>
Keltner, D., (2023b) Resources [online] <https://www.dacherkeltner.com/resources>
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