Edie Weinstein, shares insights on peak experiences and how to integrate them into everyday life.

Abraham Maslow described peak experiences as, “An almost overwhelming sense of pleasure, euphoria or joy, a deep sense of wonder or awe, feeling in harmony or at one with the universe, altered percepts of time and/or space, a deep feeling of love, greater awareness of beauty or appreciation, and a sense that it would be difficult or impossible to describe adequately in words.”  In the midst of such events, there is a sense of transcendence that takes us beyond what we would consider our normal state of being. I have had many in my 60+ years on the planet. They have taken the form of achieving a long-held goal, such as completing grad school, becoming an interfaith minister, and interviewing the Dalai Lama. It happened when communing with intimate others in a variety of ways; some sexual, some platonic. They have arrived when I have been in nature, gazing at mountains while on Outward Bound, or tubing on the Delaware River. They have shown up in those aha moments that seem serendipitous, that had me asking, “Who thought this one up?”