A recent article in Oprah, the magazine, talked about the importance of "awe" in a person's life. The physiological benefits of awe are being touted by scientists as truly life enhancing. Awe brings with it strong, indescribable feelings, but for me I think awe is experienced as an overwhelming feeling of fullness and expansion. Like my guts are exploding but in a warm, fuzzy way; how poetic is that? So that leads me to my "Ode to New York." The holidays, especially, make me want to reminisce about The Big Apple and share a short holiday tale of awe.
I lived in New York for five years after I graduated college. I lived in a big brick building in Sunnyside, Queens, behind a fish processing plant and the Long Island Railroad. Sunnyside is a hop, skip and subway train ride away from the daily grind of Manhattan. The importance of this is that it had been my biggest childhood dream to live in NYC, and luckily for me, the stars aligned at that moment in time so that I could fulfill that dream. I had grown up watching Marlo Thomas on the TV show That Girl, (and I know that dates me - the show ran from 1966-1971). As a little girl growing up in West Los Angeles, watching Marlo (playing wannabe actress Ann Marie) swirl around in her umbrella on Broadway made my whole eight year old body swoon. I wanted to BE her. I couldn't help it! One of my favorite all-time movies, too, is West Side Story, the brilliant Romeo-Juliet story told in a modern New York setting. But I would always (and still do) get goosebumps at the beginning of the film as an aerial camera scans the canyons of steel while Leonard Bernstein's amazing score begins. Sigh.
Well, back to the concept of "awe." One night after work, I was walking alone along Park Avenue. The Christmas Season was well underway, so that lights were draped across store fronts en masse, people had shopping bags galore, and even a little snow was underfoot. Hustle and bustle everywhere. This was my first time living away from California, and my first east coast holiday season. I had never seen so many people, so many lights, so much excitement at once. All I can say is that I had as close to an "awe" experience as I have ever had: I vividly remember thinking to myself, "Pinch me!!! I'm really here!!! I'm not dreaming!!!" I wanted to shout out loud to share my sheer joy, but I just walked on soaking in the sights and sounds as if I were a kid again. I felt small in the scheme of things, yet paradoxically, connected to people in a whole new way. Another way to put it, I was high on life. And that is what awe is all about.
No wonder. According to the "Awe" article in Oprah, spending time in large groups -- i.e. concerts, rallies, etc. -- often stirs feelings of awe. For some people, going into nature presses the awe button. Listening to beautiful music, visiting an art gallery, and star gazing on a clear night are also awe worthy. Why is awe so important? For one thing, it is healthy for our bodies. Positive thinking is supposed to be good for our gazillion cells. Being in a state of awe also can give us a new prospective to life's uncertainties, as well as sending out happy karma into the universe (is that New Age enough for you?). But also, the article states that awe "can help a person reflect on how an upsetting event fits into their philosophy of life, or how their personal experience unites them with humanity." This according to an assistant professor of psychology at Arizona State University.
Being awe-struck is soul food without the calories.
To recapture that awe-some evening in holiday time New York, I sometimes listen to Frank Sinatra singing "New York, New York." The rendition I've shared on my blog has Tony Bennett joining in for a duet with ol' blue eyes. As the holidays are upon us in full swing, and everyone is shopping without stopping, I hope that we will have a moment of awe to enhance our lives. Since I can't go to New York this season, I have brought it to my blog.
"I want to be a part of it..."
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