Changes in the perception of awe and gratitude during the coronavirus pandemic

Findings of an continuous Survey

Abstract

People have the experience that in certain situations or places they pause as if spellbound, that they are touched and moved by this special moment. This can be operationalized as pausing in wondering awe. The aim of this investigation was to analyze how the different aspects of this construct have changed over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they relate to the pandemic-associated stress experience, wellbeing, and specific forms of spiritual practice such as meditation and prayer. A total of 5,144 individuals participated in this continuous survey between June 2020 and April 2022. It showed that, over the course of the pandemic, the frequency of wondering awe decreased significantly, in particular the associated feelings of gratitude, while pausing spellbound before the beauty of nature and lingering in the moment showed significantly weaker declines. Awe/gratitude was moderately correlated with wellbeing and weakly inversely with the experience of stress, as well as moderately positively with the frequency of meditation and prayer and with the ideal of working towards a more just world in the future. The capacity for awe and gratitude seems to sensitize people to what is special in life that is nevertheless present – also and especially in the coronavirus pandemic. And this seems to be perceived more easily by those who have specific forms of spiritual practice.