When we’re children, magic hides in every moment of the holidays, just waiting to be unwrapped: twinkling lights in your eyes, a red-nosed reindeer that’s taller than you, family laughter harmonizing with centuries-old melodies, the staircase that doubles as a slide. 

That feeling becomes harder to re-create as time passes, but it’s possible to bring back your childhood wonder this holiday season. 

“Awe comes from experiencing something so beautiful or vast that you can’t comprehend it,” said Kurlen Payton, MD, director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s. “The mystery makes you realize how small you are.”   

Cultivating awe may rewire your brain to focus beyond yourself and toward loved ones, he said, and keeps joy burning bright during the darkest moments of the year. 

There are tangible benefits for your mind, body and spirit, too. Studies show awe can relieve stress and pain and improve sleep—and upping the daily dose only increases wellbeing. Over the long term, awe may even strengthen hearts and help ease inflammation, autoimmune disease, anxiety and depression. 

Read: The Science of Kindness

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in 1836 that in the woods, “I feel that nothing can befall me in life … which nature cannot repair.”

Researchers in the past decade are finally unraveling how nature recharges you. It gets you out of your head and allows you to feel more connected to everyone and everything around you. Time in the great outdoors could even boost your immune system.

In Japan, an emerging area of medicine prescribes forest bathing (or shinrin-yoku)—the act of simply spending time in the woods to take in the fresh air, colorful leaves and birdsong—to restore calm and lower your blood pressure and heart rate.

Similarly, stargazing on a cool, clear night can have a profound effect on your perspective, inspiring awe, humility and wellbeing as we forget everyday worries.

Payton encourages getting outside over the holidays and being curious about your surroundings. You might decide to follow Emerson into the woods, skate away the afternoon on ice or watch the sun set over the Pacific. The point is to immerse yourself in nature.  

It’s like taking your “brain to the spa,” he said.

Read: Mindfulness Meditation Soothes Patients and Providers Alike

Like the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,” creativity mesmerizes and transforms. Engaging with the arts has been found to preserve memory—including among dementia patients—and support metabolic health, breathing, movement and energy.

When spending time with relatives, friends and colleagues over the holidays, try taking a field trip together to an art museum, play or concert. 

Payton, who leads Cedars-Sinai’s Visual Arts Program, routinely sketches and believes the practice can be a fast track to awe. Drawing compels you to observe the world around you more carefully: the sizzle of oil when frying potato latkes, the shapes of the clouds rolling in and the way your dad’s eyes crinkle at his own dad joke. 

Don’t worry about technical skill or even showing your work to anyone. In fact, use a pen so you can’t erase mistakes, which can “help you leave behind your inner critic and explore something new,” Payton explained.

To encounter awe, you have to be present and patient. Put your phone aside, Payton encourages, and think about what you would sketch.   

“We’re missing out on so many interesting things in our environment because we are bombarded with distractions,” he said. “Sketching what you see forces you to pay attention.”

Read: The Healing Powers of Art