Resilience Symposium 2023:

The Awe Project

REGISTRATION IS FREE

Your curiosity brought you here.

Stay and register for this 1-day event to listen AND take part in this resilience-enhancing event taking place on Zoom.

Open-mindedness. Curiosity. Connectedness. Joy. Calmness: all associated with taking part in the (free) The Awe Project.

A special welcome to Blue Mind Summit participants.

We are happy to announce this year’s symposium will be dedicated to The Awe Project, a 5-day program that is designed to promote awe, resilience, and overall well-being (more on this below).

Knowing that we all have resilience in us, the best way to enhance it is not by listening, reading, or watching something – it is through our actions. That is why for 2023 we are taking a (very) unique approach to this year’s event: it is limited to people who have taken part in the free program and then on Monday, December 11th, we will all gather together for a full day via Zoom to practice (not just listen) awe, resilience, and more.

Don’t worry, if you haven’t done the (very short 5-day program), there will be multiple groups starting prior to December 11th.

The Symposium on December 11th will feature leading experts, professionals, and others who have also taken part in the program. They will be featured in each session during the day to offer their personal insights, their background and expertise, and then importantly, you – the audience – are encouraged to take part and share your insights and perspective too.

Join us for a day of awe and more on December 11th where you will hear from others from across the world and be part of a community that is promoting awe and resilience for yourself and others.

If you haven’t taken part in The Awe Project, it’s very easy and simple. You can watch a short video explaining it here:

This video gives an overall explanation on the importance of awe:

The Awe Project is 5 days long that takes place on your mobile device (or computer) in a private Google Classroom. You take part with a group where each day, for five days (Monday through Friday) you watch a short video (~4 minutes) each morning and evening.

Importantly, the program is designed for busy people like you. There is no set time to watch the video. It’s suggested for the morning video as close to when you wake up but any time between 5am and noon, and for the evening video, between 6pm – bedtime. Feedback on the program (which many across the world have taken part in) is below.

The Awe Project helped me start and end my day on a positive note. I felt excited to take on the day. And I went to bed feeling some of the day’s stress washed away.
I find myself a bit more grounded and calmer. I plan on continuing some breathing exercises in the morning… This has been amazing.
I found myself feeling more intense appreciation and enjoyment from simple things.
I loved how only a few moments in a day had such a great impact.
These five days made me humbler and more appreciative of what I have.
I thoroughly enjoyed and looked forward to participating in this daily, and I feel like it was nice getting to know everyone at least a little. It’s been a particularly busy week for me, and this shared, meaningfully productive experience adding something meaningful to it.

Hosted in New York City, taking place virtually.

Featured Speakers:

Dr. Wallace J. Nichols

Marine biologist, author, water-lover, turtle nerd, explorer, movement builder, embarrassing Dad & creator of useful words.
Blue Mind

Awe comment:

"We are water-based beings living on a water-based planet, so it’s no surprise that water in all its forms is one of our greatest sources of awe and wonder—building empathy and compassion, creativity and insight, connection and courage. Let’s return the favor and protect and restore our wild lakes, rivers, oceans and waterscapes."

Dr. Jennifer Fogarty

Chief Science Officer
Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) at Baylor College of Medicine

Comment on Awe:

"Experiencing Awe is truly a restorative phenomenon. For me, experiencing Awe allows me to connect with a renewed sense of purpose while providing a calming or peaceful effect resulting in empowerment and inspiration. It is definitely a positive and powerful experience."

Jneé Hill, LCSW

Clinical Social Worker
Ever Curious Therapy

Comment on Awe:

"Miracles...rest not so much upon...healing power coming suddenly near us from afar but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that, for a moment, our eyes can see...what is there around us always." - Willa Cather

Dr. Jill Harkavy-Friedman

Senior Vice President of Research
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Comment on Awe:

"“I am grateful for opportunities for awe each day.”

Chief Neil H. Gang

Chief of Police
Pinole Police Department, California

Comment on Awe:

“Infusing the Science of Awe into the policing profession can substantially impact our employees' long-term mental health.”

Inspector Mark Wachter

Commanding Officer, Health and Wellness Section
New York City Police Department (NYPD)

Comment on Awe:

“Awe is the ability to focus on the greatness around us and remind us of all the positive things in the world.”

Golnaz Tabibnia Rauch

Assistant Research Professor
University of California - Irvine

Comment on Awe:

"Awe quiets the mental chatter!"

Sergeant Laura Gibson

Mental Health and Suicide Prevention; Partnerships, Preventions and Community Wellbeing Division
Police Scotland

Comment on Awe:

"Taking time to appreciate the wonder of our world and beyond, allows me to reflect, engage and reset. It is so important to use moments of awe to rebalance the chaos which can exist in modern day living, and a career like policing."

Featured Participants:

Superintendent Melanie Aitken

Director, Safer People
New Zealand Police

Comment on Awe:

"Awe to me is things like seeing the unseen, feeling the things you don’t normally take the time to feel and sensing being a part of something much bigger, because you are looking at it from a different perspective.

Its pausing to take a breath, reflect and be wowed with what is amongst us everyday but those things that we often just take for granted..”

Yvonne Armstrong

Professor
Durham College, Ontario, Canada

Comment on Awe:

"Just like food and water are basic physiological needs, the AWE program is brain food to help with your psychological health!”

Abby Bell

Executive Assistant to the Provost
Lipscomb University

Comment on Awe:

"I participated in the awe project for 5 days, but what I learned during the project has made me more resilient forever."

Amy Boudreau B.A.,ICPS,SAS-AP®

CEO/President
The Yoga Cop Inc.

Comment on Awe:

"When surrounded by hardship and turmoil, actively seek AWE and small moments of glimmer to keep moving forward.”

Katie Carlson

Director of Wellness Initiatives
Marion County Sheriff’s Office; Indianapolis, Indiana

Comment on Awe:

“We feel awe in the present moment. It those moments of awe, our anxieties and fears momentarily slip away as we remember that we are a part of something much bigger.”

Ashley S. Childers, DSW, LCSW

Psychotherapist at Ashley Childers
Associate Professor at Grand Canyon University/ Contributing Faculty at Walden University

Comment on Awe:

"Awe is a new type of Mindfulness for me where feeling emotion deeply is grounded in a sense of wonder."

Dr. Roger Dmochowski, MD, MMHC

Professor of Urology and Surgery, Department of Urology
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Comment on Awe:

"The ability to accept, appreciate and experience awe is fundamental for one’s life experience; a momentary lapse into self-equilibration and fulfillment which provides the capacity to continue."

M.E. Heald

Career Case Manager
Minnesota Department of Corrections

Comment on Awe:

"The Awe Project is a moment in your day you didn’t realize you needed until you try it."

Sergeant Aaron Lohman

Health and Wellness Section, New York City Police Department (NYPD)

Comment on Awe:

"There's nothing more grounding to me than staring down from a mountain or out at the ocean to remind myself that we are part of a much bigger picture."