Photo courtesy of Robert Lukeman / Unsplash

When my children were young readers, I’d go to the library near my work with a “shopping list.” Laura was into the Baby-sitters Club series, and Tim’s choice was the kid-scary books by R.L. Stine called Goosebumps.

Thinking about the Stine series makes me consider authenticity. That’s a heck of a segue, and yes I know that a segue is a transition without interruption, but bear with me.

A photo can be photo-shopped to make us look younger, thinner, and prettier or more ruggedly handsome and muscular. For instance, just today I saw a magazine cover shot of Meryl Streep. She looked so AMAZINGLY naturally beautiful, that I felt compelled to pick up the magazine while standing in the grocery store checkout line. Meryl is a year older than I am. So naturally my brain started making comparisons between the stunning photo and myself. What do we typically get when we compare ourselves to someone else? Why do we do it? The good news is that inside the magazine was an unretouched photograph of Meryl riding on the subway. She looked like a regular person. OK, so now I felt better.

People can falsify education records. Companies can manipulate financial statements so that losses appear to be profits. Men and women deceive themselves in relationships. We live in a world where almost everything can be faked.

Except one thing. (Sorry you had to wait so long.) Goosebumps. That’s right. Goosebumps. Go ahead and try to make yourself have goosebumps right now. I give you permission to pause and, sitting or standing right there, try to bring on goosebumps. No fair cheating by bringing up some wonderful memory.

I’m excluding the shivering-from-the-cold kind of goosebumps. Or the oh-my-gosh-you-just scared-me goosebumps.

I want to talk about the reaction that comes forth when we feel what’s sometimes referred to as the 11^th emotion: AWE. (In case you’re wondering, the psychologist Carroll Izard identified these ten as basic emotions: Anger  Contempt  Disgust Distress  Fear  Guilt  Interest  Joy  Shame  Surprise)

Psychologist Dacher Keltner says that, “Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your understanding of the world.”

However, he suggests that we develop a capacity of wonder and reverence for everyday life. We don’t need those REALLY BIG events in order to experience awe.

Our awe-inspring moments can be discovered in ordinary events. We just need to pay attention to find them.

I experience a sense of awe in spending time in the presence of the grace and perseverance of an older friend battling cancer.

Watching my hound dog catch a cold scent of something at the park today was an awesome experience. He raced back and forth, sometimes in circles, left, then right, zigzagging endlessly with his nose to the ground, forgetting for fifteen minutes that anything else in the world existed.

I am awestruck when I consider how incredibly blessed I am. (Count your blessings isn’t just a tired old adage. Do it. Count them. Make a list. Oh and let me know when you finally finish.)

So be on the lookout for your own daily dose of awe-inspiring moments. You may be astonished at what you find.

To my readers: When’s the last time you had a case of awe-goosebumps?