Is There a Connection Between Nature and the Experience of Awe?

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The power of awe. The experience of awe does for us is am, you know, it acts as a reset button for the human brain. It kind of shakes up sense of what's possible and our schemes that so often define how we think and what we can think. And so it was hard for me not to compare the experience of ly, vast, majestic nature to the much more common experience we have of staring at our little screens.

Our curators — Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink — recently named “The Extended Mind” by Annie Murphy Paul one of the best books of the year. In this episode, Annie returns to the Next Big Idea podcast for a spirited conversation with Adam in which she defends the fine art of fidgeting, suggests ways to improve group brainstorms, and gives Adam advice on how to talk to his childhood sensei.

By the way, Adam's brilliant TED podcast "WorkLife" is back now with a new batch of interviews — including a Nobel Prize winner, one of the world’s most influential leaders, a daredevil who’s mastered fear, and one of the most decorated Olympians ever. Find them on "WorkLife with Adam Grant" wherever you listen.