The awe walk
Take a regular walk with attention deliberately turned outward toward the vast and the wondrous.
Key takeaways
- What it is: Take a regular walk with attention deliberately turned outward toward the vast and the wondrous.
- Why it works: Awe is an "outward" emotion: encountering something vast that your current mental model cannot fully contain pulls attention off the self and prompts the mind to accommodate, to update its frame. That outward pull is what quiets rumination and self-preoccupation — the walk supplies the body movement and the novel stimuli; the deliberate attentional set is what converts a stroll into awe.
- Evidence: Backed by randomized trials / meta-analyses.
- Avoid: Walking for exercise or while problem-solving in your head, then wondering why no awe arrived. Awe requires you to actually look outward and let the scene exceed you; it does not happen as a by-product.
Why it works
Awe is an "outward" emotion: encountering something vast that your current mental model cannot fully contain pulls attention off the self and prompts the mind to accommodate, to update its frame. That outward pull is what quiets rumination and self-preoccupation — the walk supplies the body movement and the novel stimuli; the deliberate attentional set is what converts a stroll into awe.
How to do it
- 1Walk somewhere with potential for vastness or novelty — a hilltop, big sky, old trees, even a tall building.
- 2Put the phone away and consciously turn attention outward, as if seeing the scene for the first time.
- 3Slow down at anything that feels expansive or intricate and let it actually register before moving on.
What the evidence says
RCT / meta-analysisA randomized study of older adults found that a brief weekly "awe walk" instruction increased felt awe and positive emotion over weeks compared with an ordinary control walk, with participants’ selfies even showing a smaller self and bigger surroundings.
Honest caveat: The sample was modest and older adults; effect sizes are small and depend on the attentional instruction — the walk alone, without the outward set, is not the same thing.
Common mistake
Walking for exercise or while problem-solving in your head, then wondering why no awe arrived. Awe requires you to actually look outward and let the scene exceed you; it does not happen as a by-product.
IX Coach can set an awe-walk intention before you head out and prompt the outward-attention cue, then help you put words to what you noticed when you return.
Practice this with IX Coach →