You’ll Get a Huge Grin on Your Face Taking an Awe Walk — Science Says So

3 simple steps for a proven happiness boost (and a bigger smile)

I don’t know about you, but I want to be the type of person that brightens up the world and spreads happiness with a smile.

I’d love to strut around all day feeling ridiculously joyful with a stupid-happy grin on my face.

So I’m up for trying anything that leads to bigger smiles — and I recently heard about a new psychology research method that’s so obvious when you think about it I’m surprised nobody thought of it before.

The psychology researchers found a specific approach to walking that will shoot a rush of positive emotions through you — and leave you with a huge grin on your face.

Most psychological studies ask participants to rate their mood on a scale, say from zero (low mood) to five (excellent mood). It’s a tried-and-true system that works well, but it’s no longer innovative. Professor Virginia Sturm of the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences decided to try a new approach. In her study, as well as asking participants to rate their mood, she got them to take selfies before, during, and after a psychological intervention.

As a result of this selfie method, Professor Sturm was able to prove — with photo evidence — that her intervention gives you a bigger smile.

The good news is that this intervention is something incredibly simple to do. You can apply it whenever you’re taking a walk around the city or in nature.

I’ll share the specific steps later in this article, once I’ve shown just how powerful it can be.

The Research Baseline: Walking Outdoors

Exercising in nature is one of my favorite methods to destress. It nudges up my mood and puts my troubles into perspective.

I feel more alive out in the wild. That’s why I love to walk in the forest or go running on the beach.

I know I’m not the only one to feel this way. The health benefits of outdoor exercises are well-studied.

So, I was curious to find out about this new research, which set the baseline at two outdoor walks per week — then found an even better way to get happy.

Science Says It’s All About Awe

In Professor Sturm’s study, the baseline control group was asked to go walking outdoors twice per week for eight weeks. Their mood was tracked after each walk, as well as daily during the eight weeks of research. The mood tracking included a selfie photo at the beginning, middle, and end of each walk.

The other half of the research participants tried out Professor Sturm’s new intervention. They were asked to take an awe-walk twice per week. This meant walking outside, with a couple of simple-to-follow techniques added in. Their mood was tracked in the same way.

Those who followed the awe-walk techniques got numerous extra benefits from their walks, including bigger smiles. Professor Sturm’s research team found that the benefits included:

• increased positive emotions on a daily basis
• more compassion
• higher levels of gratitude
• greater appreciation of the world around you
• more awareness of the beauty of nature
• reduced levels of rumination

This last point particularly resonates with me. I’ll often lace up my hiking boots during a workday when I’ve got a thorny problem to work through, then head out for a circuit of the local park. By the time I’m home, I’ll usually have some new ideas to work with. I'll have loosened the knot of the problem and I’ll see a way to get it untied. But during the walk, my mind will be focused on the problem, that’s where my attention will be drawn to. In other words, I spend my walking time ruminating.

Awe walks take people out of rumination, where problems whirr through their mind. Instead of ruminating, people on awe walks find themselves drawn into a place of gratitude, wonder, and bigger smiles.

So, what is so powerful about awe when you’re out walking?

What Makes Awe So Effective for Inner Wellbeing?

There’s been a growing movement over the last two decades to understand the psychology of awe.

Awe is the sense of wonder and reverence you get when you feel involved in something bigger than yourself. It’s about direct contact with the mystery and wonder of life. When you touch that mystery, you go into an altered state that unlocks joy and inner calm.

There are many different ways to tap into awe.

You can feel awe while listening to music, looking at art, taking part in a spiritual ritual, or while being in nature.

You can also reach a state of awe by considering your place in the universe. Think about it this way: you’re one person on a tiny speck of a planet in an insignificant solar system that’s part of a vast galaxy in a much vaster universe. Just that thought can inspire awe — and the benefits that come with it.

When you feel awe, you’re knocked out of the whirl of stressful thoughts that’s pervasive to so many people in the modern world. You get perspective on your troubles, and your worries fade into the background.

That’s probably why people who feel awe typically have lower stress levels and reduced inflammation.

The Results from the Selfie Experiment Surprised the Research Team

The selfie experiment showed that awe walks lead to bigger smiles. It also found something even more significant — awe reduces people’s sense of self. Their ego gets smaller.

After an awe walk, participants literally took smaller photos of themselves. They focused more on the world around them in their selfies. This directly reflects the fact that awe takes you out of your small self and opens you up to the bigger picture.

Professor Sturm hadn’t expected to get such profound results from the selfie study. In an interview about the research, she told the Mail Online website:

“One of the key features of awe is that it promotes what we call ‘small self’ — a healthy sense of proportion between your own self and the bigger picture of the world around you.

“To be honest, we had decided to do this particular analysis of participants’ selfies on a lark — I never really expected we’d be able to document awe’s ability to create an emotionally healthy small self literally on camera!”

Now you know the benefits of an awe walk, you might be wondering exactly what you can do to take one. Here’s how it works:

How to Take an Awe Walk in 3 Simple Steps

Over a century ago, the British poet W. H. Davies wrote::

“What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare”

‘Stand and stare’ — that’s the essence of an awe-walk.

Here are the simple steps you can follow to turn any walk into an awe walk:

Step 1: Walk Outside

The first step is the walk itself. Ideally, you should take an unfamiliar route as this will encourage you to pay attention to your surroundings.

Step 2: Shift Your Focus

For Professor Sturm, this is the essence of an awe walk. She says it’s about remembering to “shift our energy and attention outward instead of inward”.

Focus on the world around you instead of the inner world.

Step 3: Soak Up What You See

Whether you’re in nature or surrounded by architecture, take time to absorb what’s around you.

Marvel at your surroundings. Pay attention to the details; look and listen closely. Doing so will help you tap into your sense of wonder and awe.

A Poem to Nudge You Into Awe

As an alternative to following the steps above, you can memorize lines of poetry that encourage you to shift your attention outwards.

Here is W. H. Davies’s poem Leisure. I’ve found that memorizing a couple of lines from this poem helpful for entering a state of awe:

What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight, Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance, And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.

(Source: Wikimedia. This poem is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1st, 1926).

Take an Awe Walk and Unlock Your Gratitude and Wonder

Now you know how to optimize your outdoor time for increased mental health benefits.

The next time you’re headed outdoors to unwind, make it an awe walk. You’ll unlock a whole new world of gratitude and wonder — and a big smile on your face.