Oprah Winfrey

Decker Keltner shares the number one experience that is most likely to inspire awe.

this one might surprise you.

You say there are eight experiences that inspire people to feel awe.

You call them, actually, the eight wonders in life.

People may be surprised to learn what the most common reason for awe is.

I know y'all are gonna be surprised by this.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, this is, you know... I'm not, because I experienced it every day, 25 years of doing a show and seeing it happen.

I remember watching the news and seeing a young, burly, black guy standing out in the middle of water.

And this was either a flood in Houston or a flood in Dallas.

I can't remember which flood it was.

But he'd been out there all day just, you know, handing down sandbags.

Yeah.

And I remember him, you know, looking exhausted but exuberant.

Yeah.

And him saying, this is what Texans do.

This is what Texans do.

And my eyes watered when I saw it because I just thought, wow, you know, he's tired, he's got his own family, but he's out there and this is what Texans do.

So seeing someone do something extraordinary for somebody else,

I remember years ago, there was a Maxwell House coffee commercial around Christmas time.

And there was an elderly lady and a young woman next door goes and takes a Christmas tree.