I’m rather good at using maps. But I forgot the maps and here we were, late afternoon, last day of vacation, my daughter, my cousin and I, driving along a two-lane highway in Oregon. No other car in sight, and the sun had just gone down. Where was that sweet little village?

It was supposed to be right along this river. We drove on, farther into the unknown, river always at left as our guide. We kept passing farms and fields and now a few lights were coming out. In my head, I was doing a lot of self-criticisms: Why didn’t we start earlier, bring the map and on and on? My cousin and I were both impatient and stressed. My daughter, at least, was happy in the back seat, text messaging a friend. I pulled up on the shoulder of the road to think.

Just then－WOW! Amazing! A new scene had appeared. Where did it come from?

Right there, out of nowhere: a magical misty landscape. Fields stretched in silent purples, with rows of tall trees, darkening in the dusk (黄昏). I turned the car engine off. All was silent in the hot summer air. Beside us, a plum-colored river hardly moved between a border of trees, its dark lazy water reflecting the last light of day.

How breathtaking! Where had it been? If I had seen even a bit of this beauty while driving along, I could have stopped and taken a look. I had missed it all.

We miss a lot, almost everything, in fact, in our world. Our task-focused filters (过滤器) take care of that, selecting only what we need. We need to get to work. Have some lunch. We see what we need to see, often for purposes of survival. Gregory Bateson, speaking of beauty, said the judgment is selection of a fact. In our daily lives, who or what is doing the selecting? Can we make a change? Can we see further?

Awe is generally defined as the sense that you are in the presence of something larger and more consequential than yourself. According to a study called “awe walks”, people who took a fresh look at the world around them during brief, weekly walks felt more upbeat and hopeful in general than walkers who did not. Feeling a sense of awe also seems to up our overall feelings of gladness and improve health.

Previous studies have linked increased physical activity to greater happiness and reduced risks for anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses. But no studies had looked into whether mixing awe and activity might increase the benefits of each — or, on the other hand, reduce them. So, for the new study, scientists concentrated on people in their 60s, 70s and 80s, ages when some people can face risks for declining mental health.

The scientists asked 52 study volunteers to add a weekly 15-minute walk to their normal schedules. All of them were physically healthy and psychologically well-adjusted, with little disquietude or depression. Then they were randomly divided into two groups. One, as a control group, was asked to start walking, preferably outside, but given few other requirements. The members of the other group were not only asked to walk once a week, but also were instructed in how to cultivate awe as they walked. “Basically, we told them to try to go and walk somewhere new, since novelty helps to cultivate awe,” says Virginia Sturm, an associate professor who led the new study.

Both groups were asked to take a few selfies (自拍) during their walks and upload them to a lab website and also complete a daily online assessment of their current mood. After eight weeks, the scientists compared the groups’ responses and photos. Not surprisingly, the awe walkers felt happier, less upset and more socially connected than the control group members.

The findings are subjective, though, since awe, like other emotions, is difficult to quantify, but Dr. Sturm thinks awe walks could be a simple thing for small wonders without any downside.

While the arts can’t stop the COVID-19 virus or the social unrest we see in the world today, they can give us insight into the choices we make when moving through crises and chaos. The arts invite everyone to think in new ways.

We often experience works of art as something that’s pleasing to our senses without a full understanding of the creative effort. Great art often shows us contradictions and crises, and we can learn a great deal from their resolutions. Through our understanding of art, we can gain a deeper understanding of how we might overcome our own challenges. In understanding extremes of contrast, we can see the beauty in art with themes that are not simply pleasing for their magnificent features or qualities.

Beethoven offers a wonderful example of moving artfully through crises and chaos. He composed his Symphony No.9 as his hearing loss became more and more pronounced. The opening of the symphony seems to come out of nowhere, from near silence in the opening to a full expression of what many consider to be the joy of freedom and universal brotherhood with Schiller’s Ode to joy (欢乐颂). Beethoven appears to have created a work of art that not only freed him from his personal struggles, but one that also speaks to the joy of living together in peace and harmony.

Have a dialogue between the two opposing parts and you will find that they always start out fighting each other until we come to an appreciation of difference—a oneness of the two opposing forces. The arts offer many lessons that can help us gain the knowledge we need to move more confidently in today’s competitive and uncertain environment. An openness to arts-based solutions will give you more control over your future.

We all do little things to boost the way we feel and think throughout the day. Something as simple as taking a walk or eating a piece of chocolate can brighten your mood almost instantly, thanks to certain chemical reactions that occur in the brain.     16     If you’re going through something complex, you need a more permanent practice. That’s where writing comes in.

As Mental Health Awareness Month begins, it’s worth learning about the ways that you can use writing to support your mental well-being.     17    

You can use writing for mindfulness. Mindfulness is a tried-and-true technique for improving mental wellness, but can writing have the same effect?     18     By focusing on a particular moment and getting it all out there on the page, you can free yourself from any of the other concerns that are crowding your mind. This way, you can use writing as an approach to mindfulness and as a way of relieving stress.

Another benefit to writing is its ability to clear your mind of worries, negative thoughts, or sources of pain.     19     Fortunately, writing can speed up the process of restoring mental clarity.

    20     People are more likely to talk to others about a painful event after writing about it privately, which powerfully suggests that writing can indirectly lead to reaching out for support, which can mean even greater healing and relief.

Through the process of populating a blank page with letters and words, writing can be a useful mental health tool that both records your experiences and allows you to work through them.

When I asked my mom for piano lessons in 2010, we were in the fallout of the recession (经济衰退). She said a polite “No”.

That didn’t stop me. I googled the ________ for a keyboard, drew the keys on a piece of paper and ________ it on my desk. I would click notes on an online ________ and “play” them back on my paper one—keeping the ________ they made on the computer in my head. Once my mom saw that I was ________, she borrowed money and bought me 10 lessons.

I still remember the first one. I was ________ by how real the sound of the piano was. I ________ my grade one test after eight lessons. But when I started secondary school, we couldn’t ________ lessons again. I passed grade five, practicing only on my piece of paper.

When I was about 13, my mom said she had a ________ for me; it was an electronic keyboard, bought with ________ borrowed money. It was the first time I’d played for her.

Later I found the Purcell School for young musicians. The tryouts were ________. Some of the questions ________ an assessment of the composer or when the music was written. I felt stressed out. To my amazement, I was offered a ________. At Purcell, I saved enough to buy my first piano.

When I left Purcell, I was awarded the senior academic music prize. I am now at the Guildhall School in London, one of the world’s leading music schools. I feel proud: it’s been 10 years ________ I drew my paper piano. I continue to do a lot of my practice away from the piano: what we call ________ practice. The paper piano helped solve my curiosity about how music works and what forms the masterpieces.

An Unforgettable Social Practice Activity