In Praise of Awe and My Father-in-Law

Part 7 of a 10-part series on the characteristics of happy people

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”  – W.B. Yeats

I was surprised to find that, according to the University of Zurich research I’ve been writing about, “appreciation of beauty” was in the second half of characteristics of happy people. I expected it to rank higher, but I’m thinking that if you don’t have the top traits, maybe it’s hard to appreciate beauty.

It’s defined, according to Chris Peterson and Martin Seligman, as the “ability to find, recognize, and take pleasure in the existence of goodness in the physical and social worlds.”

That’s pretty broad. They break down this “goodness” as being one of three different types:

1. Physical or auditory: music, birds singing, fine art.

2. Skill or talent: athletic skill, performers of any type

3. Virtue or moral goodness: charitable works, kindness.

Shock and Awe

According to this article, awe is the emotion most often associated with this trait. Awe isn’t an emotion we think about very often. It’s not on any of the “What Do You Feel Today?” posters I had in my play therapy room, but it should be.

As I think about the elders in my life, those I’m most inspired by are the ones who, after 80+ years, can still find awe around them.

Several years ago, I took my in-laws to the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, a properly awe-worthy place. They were impressed by the art, but what caught my father-in-law’s attention was the guy cleaning the fountain out front. He struck up a conversation with him, as he is wont to do, and must have asked him 20 questions about how he was cleaning the fountain. My mother-in-law was annoyed by the wait, since it’s a pretty frequent occurrence for her to end up waiting while he chats someone up.

He has an engineering background and found whatever the guy was doing fascinating. (I confess that I have no idea what he found fascinating because I was chasing a toddler around at the same time).

I loved the sculptures, he loved the mechanics of cleaning the fountain. The point is to find what you think is awe-worthy and surround yourself with it.