Awe is the feeling that can arise when you encounter something vast, beautiful, powerful, complex, or surprising enough to stretch your usual way of understanding the world.
Awe can come from nature, music, art, spiritual practice, collective experiences, human courage or kindness, science, or even noticing something ordinary in a new way.
For ADHD women, especially women diagnosed later in life, awe may be useful as a well-being and perspective practice. It should not be presented as a treatment for ADHD, and researchers have not established that awe improves ADHD symptoms specifically.
What the Research Says
Research on awe in general populations suggests that awe can shift attention away from a narrow focus on the self, increase feelings of connection, and support meaning and well-being. Experimental research also suggests that awe can change perspective and emotional reactivity.
A 2022 review proposed several pathways through which awe may support health and well-being, including reduced self-focus, greater social connection, and increased meaning. Monroy & Keltner, 2022
A 2024 study across seven experiments found that awe increased equanimity, or a more balanced response to positive and negative experiences, partly by helping people view experiences from a greater psychological distance. Chen et al., 2024
A 2025 randomized clinical trial in adults living with long COVID found that a brief awe intervention reduced stress and depressive symptoms and increased well-being compared with a control condition. It did not significantly reduce anxiety. This was a small study in a specific clinical population, not an ADHD study. Monroy et al., 2025
Why This May Be Relevant After a Late ADHD Diagnosis
Many late-diagnosed ADHD women describe years of watching themselves closely: trying to avoid mistakes, anticipating criticism, comparing themselves with other people, or trying to understand why ordinary demands seemed to require so much effort.
Awe offers a different direction for attention.
Instead of asking you to analyze yourself more, an awe practice can temporarily invite attention toward something larger, interesting, beautiful, surprising, or meaningful.
That does not mean awe erases shame, burnout, depression, anxiety, workplace problems, or the effects of years of misunderstanding. The ADHD-specific application is a reasonable clinical and educational hypothesis, not something that has been directly demonstrated in trials of late-diagnosed ADHD women.
Awe Does Not Have to Be Huge
People often imagine awe as standing at the Grand Canyon or seeing the northern lights.
Those experiences count, but awe can also happen in ordinary life:
- seeing the moon through the trees
- listening closely to a piece of music
- watching a storm arrive
- looking at photographs from space
- seeing detailed artwork
- watching an animal do something unexpected
- learning something about the ocean, the brain, history, or the universe that changes your sense of scale
- witnessing courage, generosity, skill, or collective effort
- participating in spiritual or contemplative practice
The important feature is not that the experience is impressive enough. It is that it gives you a sense that there is more here than your usual frame can fully hold.
An Awe Walk
Research on older adults has tested an awe walk: an ordinary walk taken with deliberate attention to things that may evoke wonder or a sense of vastness. Sturm et al., 2020
You can try a simpler version:
- Go somewhere you can move comfortably and safely.
- Let yourself look for scale, detail, pattern, beauty, change, or surprise.
- When something catches your attention, stay with it for a little longer than usual.
- Notice what happens in your body and attention without trying to force a particular feeling.
You do not need to make the walk productive, track it, or turn it into another habit you have failed if you forget to do it.
Seeking Vastness
The Greater Good article that prompted this page used images and videos of oceans, mountains, landscapes, and the universe to help students experience awe during a stressful period. The educator then invited students to reflect on connection and perspective.
For an adult version, you might watch or look at:
- space imagery
- deep-ocean footage
- mountains, forests, storms, or waterfalls
- architecture
- live music or dance
- art that stops you for a moment
Then ask:
- What feels different in my attention right now?
- Did this change the size of the problem I was carrying, even temporarily?
- Did I feel more connected, more curious, or simply different?
There is no required response.
Awe and Affirmations
The original education article paired awe-inspiring material with student-created affirmations. That may be a meaningful reflection activity, but the evidence for awe itself and the evidence for affirmations are separate. There is no scientific basis for language such as “raising awe vibrations.”
A version that fits this page better might be:
- notice what the experience brought up
- write one sentence you want to remember
- keep it descriptive rather than forcing positivity
For example:
- There is more happening in my life than the mistake I made today.
- I am part of a much larger world than this one difficult moment.
- Curiosity is still available to me.
Awe Is Not Always Pleasant
Awe can include fear, uncertainty, or a sense of being very small. Research suggests that positive and threatening forms of awe do not always affect well-being in the same way.
If an experience makes you feel frightened, detached, overstimulated, or worse, you do not need to push through it because it is supposed to be good for you.
A Small Practice
Once or twice this week, deliberately look for one thing that expands your attention.
It might be outside. It might be music, science, art, spirituality, movement, or another person.
Stay with it for 30 seconds longer than you normally would.
Then notice: Did anything shift?
Related Pages
ADHD Energy and Capacity in Women
Sources
- Monroy, M., & Keltner, D. (2022). Awe as a Pathway to Mental and Physical Health. PubMed
- Chen, S. et al. (2024). A balanced mind: Awe fosters equanimity via temporal distancing. PubMed
- Monroy, M. et al. (2025). Awe reduces depressive symptoms and improves well-being in a randomized-controlled clinical trial. PubMed
- Sturm, V. E. et al. (2020). Big smile, small self: Awe walks promote prosocial positive emotions in older adults. PubMed
This page is educational and is not medical advice.
Companion resources
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Evidence status: General-population research; ADHD-specific application remains a clinical/educational hypothesis. Preserved from the ADHD in Women hub on September 30, 2026.