The Awe Project consists of five days (Monday through Friday) of various practices and takes place online through the Google Classroom platform in a private, password protected classroom. Google Classroom is accessible on both mobile devices and computers.  

 

Why awe? Experiencing awe is much more important than a sensation, it is also strategic. There are many science-backed benefits of awe that can impact both your professional and personal life.

 

The benefits of awe can include increases in: prosocial behavior, expanding one's sense of time (not feeling rushed), patience, handling the unknown, social connectedness, collaboration, humility, critical thinking, and positive mood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The program explained:

 

Participants take part voluntarily and are provided with the access code to the private classroom. The evening prior to the program starting, each participate views a short overview video, introduces themselves to the group, and completes a brief pre-program survey.

 

Each day of the program is structured in a similar manner with both morning and evening practices that take approximately 7-10 minutes to complete each session. For each session, the participate receives an alert from the application when the practices have been posted: 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. respectively for the morning and evening practices. 

 

Participants are asked to complete the morning session prior to noon each day. The morning sessions consists of a one minute breathing practice, watching a short awe-inducing video, and then answering a question in the classroom application. On certain days the question includes responding to a previous comment made by another participant. 

 

Participants are requested to complete the evening session between when it is posted (6:00 p.m.) and prior to going to bed. The evening session is similarly designed to the morning session: a short awe-inducing video and the participant is asked to answer a question or provide feedback on the video. As part of the evening practices, on certain days it also includes gratitude practices and also a prospection (forward thinking) practice. The purpose of these two practices, which are connected to resilience, is it both looks in the past as well as the future of positive events. 

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Overall Remarks on the Program: 

 

1. The Awe Project helped me start and end my day on a positive note. I felt excited to take on the day. And I went to bed feeling some of the day’s stress washed away. 

2. I find myself a bit more grounded and calmer. I plan on continuing some breathing exercises in the morning… This has been amazing.  

3. I found myself feeling more intense appreciation and enjoyment from simple things. 

4. I loved how only a few moments in a day had such a great impact. 

5. These five days made me humbler and more appreciative of what I have. 

6. I thoroughly enjoyed and looked forward to participating in this daily, and I feel like it was nice getting to know everyone at least a little. It’s been a particularly busy week for me, and this shared, meaningfully productive experience adding something meaningful to it.