We’re back with a new batch of episodes starting October 23. To kick things off, Maya does a deep dive into the emotion of awe. She talks to experts about where to find it, why it matters, and the powerful effects of experiencing it with other people. And, as always, you’ll hear stories about navigating the uncertainty that comes along with change. Maya talks to people fighting insurmountable odds, including a woman forced to grapple with the news that she has a 50-50 chance of carrying a deadly genetic mutation.
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Pushkin, Hey, there is Maya. I'm thrilled to be back with a new season of A slight change of plans. As a cognitive scientist who studies human behavior, I'm interested in how we can do a better job of navigating change. One of the biggest lessons I've learned recently is that when we're in the throes of a big change, we should seek out awe inspiring experiences. So we're kicking things off with a mini series on the powerful and mysterious emotion of awe. For our first episode, I talked to a psychologist about as power to transform us.
These momentary experiences of awe through their challenges to your belief system. You tend to look at the world more carefully, you tend to entertain alternative hypotheses, and those are all cognitive strategies that help us be more resilient.
We also dig into a type of awe known as collective effervescence. It's the feeling we get when we experience something transcendent with other people, like at a concert, a sports game, or a political march.
There's this palpable excitement that occurs where you're all there in this moment together and something magical is happening and you're a part of it. You're fully engrossed. All of your senses are being pulled into this moment, and that moment is special.
We'll hear from world class violinist men kim Awe is what initially drew her to a career in music, and after she endured a tragic loss, it's what helped bring her back to life.
It was almost like discovering music for the very first time again, just realizing that everything, every emotion, everythool, everything that's ever been discovered is in music.
And as always, you'll hear stories from people navigating the uncertainty that comes along with change, like Sonya Vullob, who learned there's a fifty percent chance she carries a deadly genetic mutation.
Everything felt scary and not knowing was taking a huge amount of energy from me. I would wake up every day flipping the coin in my head and it was like my mind did not have a place to rest, it could never rest our.
Guests this season have so much wisdom to offer. I can't wait for you to hear from them. New episodes will hit your feed on Monday, October twenty third. All Episodes of A Slight Change of Plans are free and you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. See you next week.