The Most Transformative Emotion
Beyond Joy, Happiness, and Wonder . . .
What is the most transformative of all emotions?
Ask a hundred people and you’ll likely hear words like love, grief, or joy. But there’s a strong case to be made for awe.
Awe doesn’t just replace other emotions—it reframes them. It can arise in the presence of joy, or even alongside sorrow. It doesn’t narrow our view. It expands it.
Some researchers call awe a meta emotion because, while it can exist on its own, it also has the power to reshape the emotional field itself. It quiets the ego, slows our perception of time, and reconnects us to something larger than ourselves.
Experiencing awe can be profoundly beneficial. It has the power to expand our sense of time, increase our compassion, and help us feel more deeply connected to ourselves, others, and the world around us. It can also decrease anxiety, depression, and loneliness, while simultaneously increasing mindfulness and overall well-being.
In 2020, along with my colleague Dr. Michael Amster, we conducted research at the University of California, Berkeley that explored the psychological and physiological benefits of awe. That research became the foundation of our award-winning book, The Power of Awe. More recently, we published a peer-reviewed study demonstrating that awe-based interventions can significantly reduce depression and enhance well-being—a finding that adds scientific weight to awe’s transformative potential.
Since the book's publication, Michael has continued teaching people to access awe through online classes and an annual in-person retreat. My focus, however, has shifted to one question:
How can we make awe more accessible?
Many people experience moments of awe—brief openings of expansiveness and stillness—but aren't always able to sustain it or have it arise spontaneously throughout their day.
Why is that?
In our work teaching people how to access the awe, we discovered a pattern: awe rarely shows up when we're locked in emotional survival mode. When we’re caught in cycles of tension, conflict, and anxiety, awe can feel distant—even when beauty is right in front of us.
That’s because awe requires openness. And openness can’t exist when our nervous systems are guarding against life.
We call this common state "safety consciousness": a subtle but persistent orientation toward control, protection, and certainty. It limits not just awe, but joy, ease, and meaningful connection.
The solution isn’t just trying harder to be inspired.
It’s learning how to shift the way we interpret and respond to life itself.
My colleagues and I have developed a new system for doing exactly that. It’s called S.A.G.E.—Subjective Awareness and Genuine Expression.
SAGE helps people:
Move from survival-mode thinking into a creative, fluid mindset
Understand how their interpretations shape their emotional reality
Build meaningful relationships that don’t drain them
When these foundations are in place, awe becomes easier. Natural. Effortless.
This work is my personal focus and direction, building on the foundation of awe but going deeper—into the psychological and emotional terrain that shapes our ability to feel wonder in the first place.
If you're interested in exploring this new path, I invite you to follow along. I write every week or two on Substack. It's free of charge, thoughtfully written, and designed to help people like you rediscover ease, openness, and the conditions in which awe arises naturally.
If you’re curious, I invite you to subscribe to my Substack and follow along.
This exploration isn’t just about experiencing more awe—though that alone can be life-changing. It’s about discovering a different way of being. A different operating system.
One that shifts us out of threat-based reactivity and into a state of greater calm, clarity, and connection. Where we’re not only more open to awe, but also more available to each other.
When we live this way, we relate differently—with less defensiveness, and far more intimacy. Awe becomes easier. And so does love.