A “eureka” moment can transform us forever.

Rebecca Webber explores the  epiphany effect.

23/01/2011

Everyone’s life has superlative moments – times when we feel extraordinary and our experiences are recorded in Technicolor. “It’s part of the human condition,” says Roland Griffiths, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “We’re wired to have such experiences.”

Psychologist Abraham Maslow famously coined the term “peak experience” in 1964 to denote sudden feelings of intense well-being that fill us with wonder and awe. Psychologically healthy people tend to have more of them, and such experiences can also bring feelings of interconnectedness and create a sharper sense of life purpose. “It’s that quality of the experience that makes it so memorable,” says Griffiths. As a result, peak experiences may cause a cascade of changes in our lives as we accommodate our newly expanded sense of self.

“Some people have to climb to the top of a mountain to have a peak moment,” says Jeffrey Kottler, a psychology professor at California State University. “But for a painfully shy person, reaching out to a stranger to start a relationship is the equivalent of climbing Everest.”

Peak experiences often involve an  epiphany, an “aha!” moment that occurs suddenly, typically during a period of emotional turmoil. In an instant, we have an insight that is entirely new and deeply meaningful. An  epiphany can reorder our priorities, revealing how we’ve veered away from our authentic self and inspiring us to move towards behaviour that better matches it. The transformation is usually enduring.

Robert Blodgett was blindsided when his six-week-old son caught a respiratory virus and became desperately sick. “The doctor came out and told us, ‘Your son is fighting to breathe, and he’s not winning,’ ” he recalls. “My mind started spinning, and then it became clear how important my family was to me.” He was hit by the realisation that he had been devoting his energy to the wrong thing. “I was working 50 hours a week. I’d get to the office early and stay late.” That is, when he wasn’t travelling.

“I left most of the family responsibilities to my wife.”

His son’s illness flipped a switch in his brain that completely overturned his value system. At that moment, Blodgett resolved to spend more time with his family. It meant turning down promotions, accepting smaller pay cheques and leaving the corporate world for a more flexible freelance life. He ultimately moved his family to be closer to relatives but believes the change was worth it. “We have a nice life now,” he says. “I may not have the fanciest car but I have a great relationship with my kids.”

Researchers have simulated the experience of  epiphany in the lab by presenting subjects with a difficult problem to solve and, using neuroimaging techniques, watching what happens in the brain. Seconds before they become aware of a solution, participants reduce visual activity, turn off all unrelated thinking and appear to focus all attention inward. Then – “eureka!” – people experience an acute awareness about something to which they had previously been blind.

Epiphanies can occur at rock-bottom times – a break-up, deep addiction, the death of a parent, the loss of a job – or strike out of the blue. You don’t need big lows to have big highs. “About half the people we studied were at very low, desperate places in their lives,” reports William Miller, a psychology professor at the University of New Mexico. His research was kicked off by placing a newspaper ad asking people for  epiphany stories. “They got to the end of their rope and then the rope snapped. In that moment, this experience occurred.” The other half had an  epiphany while doing nothing more dramatic than walking across their living room.

Just as some epiphanies lead us out of miserable situations, others allow us to see that we’re capable of something we didn’t think possible. We can learn to use technology; we can train for a triathlon; we can make new friends after age 40. Based on our sudden insight, we start to act in totally new ways – although with some peak experiences, the change is strictly internal and subtle, but no less memorable.

Betty Themsky was travelling with a friend in Morocco when she jumped off a train at their intended stop only to see the train pull away before her friend could disembark. Terrified, she broke down in tears. “I’d always been timid,” she says. “As a child I was too afraid to walk home from my girlfriend’s house two doors away. Here I was, alone in a foreign country where I didn’t even speak the language.”

With the help of station employees and some rudimentary sign language, Themsky decided to head to her hotel. “After I calmed down, it dawned on me that I could figure it out. It broke the spell that said I had to be fearful and helpless. I realised I could rely on myself to cope with extreme situations.” Her friend eventually caught up with her. Three months later, Themsky was off on her first solo international trip. “I actually prefer it!” she says.

For all the changes that peak experiences can trigger, sometimes they shift nothing more than time itself. There are moments when the forces of man and nature align perfectly, and our job is simply to appreciate.

“I took an ungodly early sunrise kayaking trip,” recalls Amy Weirick. “It was 6am, freezing cold, grey and drizzly. We got onto the water in pea-soup fog. The sun started to sparkle through the trees and the fog started swirling in these eerie twists of mist. As the fog lifted, we all gasped collectively.” The lake was ringed by a dazzling show of autumn foliage, doubly magnificent as it was reflected in the water. “It was nothing short of magical. I think back to that moment almost daily.”

Weddings, the births of children, graduations, major career achievements – all can figure in peak experiences. “Often, our most memorable moments are those that match our hopes and dreams,” says Shane Lopez, a senior scientist at the Gallup market research organisation in the US.

That’s because anticipation plays a crucial role. “We think about what we can do to contour the experience to make it better for ourselves and others,” says Lopez. Anticipation can also strengthen social ties and encourage the creation of a narrative about the experience, which helps solidify the good memories for a lifetime.

Altruism may be a natural path to peak experiences. “People’s lives often feel empty when they don’t feel like they’re helpful to others,” explains Jeffrey Kottler. Researchers have found that pleasure centres in the brain are activated when people think about giving.

One altruistic act can quickly rise towards peak territory. Kottler cites a research trip he made to Nepal, where girls were being sold into sex slavery. One girl was endangered because her parents could not afford her school fees – “The most horrifying thing I’d ever heard,” Kottler says – and was spared that bleak future when Kottler paid her $50 tuition fee.

He went on to found an organisation that helps young girls in Nepal avoid sex slavery – which he counts among his most significant accomplishments – and regularly travels back to the country with new colleagues. “Years later, we’ll talk about the trips. But what people remember most is being touched by the girls and their families. When people give to others, they really feel some sort of transformation.”

In many of life’s most memorable moments, we evolve into someone different from – better than – the person we were before. “A lot of peak experiences involve a feeling of spiritual transcendence, where you feel transported beyond yourself as a human being,” says Kottler.

People throw off the restraints (often only mental ones) that have kept them from doing things that are in line with their authentic selves. “You stop worrying about impressing others and move towards things that are inherently interesting to you,” says Ryan Howell, a psychology professor at San Francisco State University.

Many of William Miller’s subjects found that their quantum change ended up altering everything about their lives. “Things that were high priority before were now low priority.” Subjects typically changed careers and began volunteering, but it was much different than, ” ‘I ought to go help the poor,’ ” he says. “Their sense of who they were and what their place was in the universe had fundamentally shifted.”

By definition, peak experiences can’t be sustained. “They are like punctuation marks,” says Kottler. “They can be exhausting and overwhelming, you can handle one only every so often. You pay for them spiritually, emotionally and sometimes financially. You need recovery and reflection time afterwards so you can create meaning from the experience.”

The person who rushes from one mountain top to the next without processing each experience, just to say they’ve scaled them all, will likely remember only a blur of snow.

In the end, peak experiences contribute to both short- and long-term well-being. “They become part of your positive memory capital,” explains Howell. “You can go to them any time, reflect on them and increase your happiness.”

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