What would the world be like If we could move beyond their own egos, our own sense of selves; if we could feel closer connections to others; if we could forget our own anxieties and limitations? These abilities are accessible to everyone - you don't need to take any pills and you don't need to put on any goggles. I'll explain what peak experiences are, why they are potentially powerful to humanity and how you can experience more.
Have you ever felt like time stopped? Have you ever been so engaged in an activity that the very meaning of space and time, the usual laws of your experience, your usual limitations and your usual fears seemed to somehow not apply anymore? If so, you may have had a peak experience; how did it make you feel?
The experience economy has boomed in the last 20 years as restaurants, festivals and events have achieved a scale never before seen. The COVID pandemic is wreaking chaos and destroying businesses, but insatiable appetite for rich experiences is still there.
Wealthy industrialized societies will actualize their need for deep, visceral experiences through any means available. As product creators we will answer the call. And as product creators we have a responsibility to deliver experiences that act in a prosocial, humanistic way; and preferably ones that allow as broad a swath of humanity as possible to experience the wonder of being.
As individuals, are we not compelled to experience the fullness of our consciousness? If I told you you could feel at one with the people around you, feel totally absorbed in your work and deepen your perceptions, and that you don't need to take any substances or even download an app to do it, would you give it a go?
During peak experiences people move beyond their sense of self, they feel connected to the world around them in a way that is usually not accessible, they feel accepting and at one with their existence. The experience of a peak experience is not limited only to the experience. That sense of transcendence remains present in some way after the experience.
We have an ability accessible to almost everyone - particularly those of us in wealthy, stable, industrialized nations - than can boost our empathy and our feeling of connection to others. Shouldn't we use that ability to empathize, connect with and transcend with the people who need it most - not only others in our own social bubble?
As a coach I am training to help people identify and connect with peak experiences, and then help them figure out how to deepen and expand those experiences.
Peak experiences are an experiential human phenomena first described by Abraham Maslow in 1957. The key characteristics of peak experiences Maslow described are: