The Nervous System Reset We All Need Right Now
A simple strategy for when life feels like a one big giant dumpster fire.
I had a totally different post queued up for this week, but decided to switch things up given current events and the state of my nervous system lately. Because I can’t pretend like life is normal right now, and I would imagine many of you can’t either.
What to do when everything feels like one big giant dumpster fire? How can you regulate your nervous system so you have the energy and focus to do something useful, rather than feel frozen in a state of shock and dismay?
I recently finished the book How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days by Kari Leibowitz. Within a few chapters I knew this book was going to influence my mindset about a whole lot more than just winter, so I returned my library copy and bought my own so I could mark it up to my heart’s desire. And mark it up I did!
So much of the positive psychology in How to Winter is applicable to the menopause transition, but also helpful for approaching any challenging circumstance. And since challenges abound, I figured now was the perfect time to write about the power of wonder and awe for providing a much needed nervous system reset.
There is so much I could say about my own history cultivating wonder and awe. But the gist of it is this: cultivating these two potent emotions helped sustain me through years of intense stress and anguish.
So you can imagine my delight when Leibowitz wrote about study findings that confirmed what I already knew to be true in my own body: cultivating a sense of wonder and awe can indeed be helpful for calming your nervous system during times of stress.
She quotes Virginia Sturm, a professor at UCSF who led a study to test whether people can purposefully cultivate wonder and awe by taking one 15-minute “awe walk” a week. And the results were astounding.
The participants who took weekly awe walks (vs. those in the regular walking group) didn’t just report an increase in positive emotions, but also reported a decrease in daily distress. Sturm says that “awe sets us up to deal with stressors more effectively, and gives us more space to respond without having a full blown negative emotional reaction.”
Leibowitz also explains that awe not only helps us feel less bogged down by day-to-day challenges, but it also helps us feel more connected to humanity. Which is, in my opinion, exactly what the world needs right now.
So how can we more purposefully cultivate a sense of wonder and awe?
I suggest doing what Sturm had study participants do: take one 15-minute “awe walk” a week. As you walk, try to tap into a childlike sense of wonder and see things with fresh eyes. Use your five senses, slow down, and look at things up close if possible.
You may notice that the positive emotions you feel on your awe walks bleed into time outside your walks and help create what’s known as an upward spiral of well-being. This is a state where positive emotions - like awe - lead to other positive emotions and the sum total of that upward spiral is a better quality of life overall.
Pretty amazing, right?
I want to leave you with one final thought:
Resistance takes all kinds of forms. It’s writing letters, making phone calls, donating, boycotting, taking to the streets in peaceful protest and it’s purposefully cultivating positive emotions like joy, wonder and awe especially when things feel bleak. Because joy, wonder and awe fuel hope. And hope? Hope is what sustains long term action. Hope is a powerful thing indeed.
Sending you the biggest, warmest, most comforting hugs.
xo, Rebecca
P.S. Asking for a friend.