Should You Add the Profound Experience of Human Relationships to Your Bucket List?
Many people in their sixties and seventies are busy trying to fulfill lifetime dreams of travel or adventure—dropping out of airplanes, hang-gliding, hiking extreme mountain peaks, visiting far-off places. One of the expectations of experiences like this is to produce powerful feelings of awe and wonder in ourselves.
I remember this feeling when I saw the Grand Canyon for the first and only time. It was intense. I felt I couldn’t get enough of the vistas. I made a vow to myself to do whatever I had to do to come back here and hike down inside. Though I was out of shape and my knees were already arthritic, my reaction to the view was profound. I felt it was essential that I return, that I do something to make this place my own. I still have this feeling. It rises in my chest and throat whenever I think about my visit there. I will always love the Grand Canyon, whether I get back there or not. I am so grateful I saw it once.
The Power of Relationships
I read an interesting article by Glenn Geher, Ph.D. in the March/April 2022 issue of Psychology Today Magazine about peak experiences that produce awe and wonder. However, the author took a different tack and suggested that as we age, we would do well to consider the power of our…
