From Transcendence to Everyday Life and How to Keep the Magic Alive
- Brainz Magazine
- Mar 13
- 16 min read
Written by Triva A. Ponder, Family Therapist
Triva A. Ponder helps individuals and couples identify where they are losing energy and guides them in reclaiming it. She specializes in communication skills, helping couples replace painful conversations and complaints with constructive, needs-based expression.
Profound experiences are rare moments that feel deeply transformative – whether it’s a flash of spiritual insight, an overwhelming sense of unity, or a surge of intense emotion. Psychologist Abraham Maslow famously termed these “peak experiences,” referring to “profound personal and meaningful events” that stand out for their intensity and impact. In such moments, people report feelings of awe, bliss, or clarity that go far beyond ordinary happiness. Neuroscience suggests these experiences feel so transformative because they engage the brain in exceptional ways – flooding us with feel-good neurochemicals and silencing our inner chatter – yet their effects are often fleeting. We might feel changed in the moment, only to find the feeling fades back into everyday normalcy soon after. The challenge, then, is to integrate these moments into daily life in a way that fosters inner freedom – a lasting sense of emotional clarity and resilience. This article explores the psychology and neuroscience behind these profound-but-transient states and discusses how to integrate their lessons into daily life to find inner freedom and maintain well-being.
Defining profound experiences
A profound experience can take many forms. It might be a sudden epiphany during meditation, a wave of love and connection holding a newborn, a spiritual vision during a retreat, or simply being moved to tears by a piece of music. What these events share is a sense of transcending our usual perception of self and world. They often involve “intense feelings, hyper-awareness... heightened emotions, ‘out-of-body’ sensations, and profound insights” that make us feel “at one with the universe”. During a peak experience, “people experience pleasure beyond mere satisfaction,” with feelings of enlightenment and even ecstasy. Crucially, these states are transient – they may last only “a few precious moments, hours, or even a few days,” and feel immensely meaningful “during the experience and shortly thereafter”. In the brain, they correspond to brief surges of activity in emotion and reward circuits, making them feel seismic in the moment. But our minds and bodies are wired for equilibrium, which is why these highs naturally dissipate as we return to baseline. Before addressing how to hold on to such insights, let’s first examine the nature of profound experiences across cultures and what science knows about these states.
The nature of profound experiences
Cross-cultural perspectives
Humans have long sought and described transcendent moments. In Buddhism, enlightenment (nirvana or satori) is portrayed as an ultimate awakening – a timeless instant of seeing reality with complete clarity, beyond ego and suffering. Hindu practitioners speak of darshan, the blessed moment of beholding a deity or holy person, often bringing an intense feeling of grace. Many Native American traditions include vision quests, in which an individual undertakes solitude and fasting in nature to invite a guiding vision – a “supernatural experience” intended to provide insight and direction in life. Despite differing frameworks, these traditions converge on the idea that brief encounters with the sacred or sublime can be life-altering. In fact, people in “all cultures, religions, ethnicities, and social strata” have reported such peak moments of awe and insight. The contexts vary – prayer, dance, pilgrimage, or communion with nature – but the core experience of transcendence is strikingly universal. These cross-cultural accounts highlight that profound experiences are part of the human condition, and cultures have developed rituals to induce them (from meditation to psychedelics to intense prayer) and narratives to make sense of them.
Psychological theories of altered states
Modern psychology began recognizing these events through pioneers like William James and Abraham Maslow. Maslow described peak experiences as times when “individuals seem to transcend the self” and come away with a sense of greater meaning. He noted that emotionally healthy, self-actualizing people tended to have more frequent peak experiences in everyday life – perhaps because they are more open, present, and appreciative. Another influential concept is Mihály Csíkszentmihályi’s flow state, which is a highly focused, optimal state of consciousness often achieved during creative or athletic endeavors. In flow, people become fully absorbed in what they are doing to the point that they lose self-consciousness, experience a distorted sense of time, and feel a sense of effortlessness and unity with the activity. This is essentially a form of everyday transcendence – not overtly mystical, but a peak mental state where one’s skills are perfectly matched to a challenge, yielding intense fulfillment. Psychologist Charles Tart also wrote about “altered states of consciousness,” examining how practices like hypnosis, meditation, or sensory deprivation can temporarily shift our mental patterns and yield unusual insights or perceptions. These theories all affirm that the human mind can shift out of ordinary awareness into exceptional states that feel qualitatively different – whether described as peak experience, flow, trance, or mystical union.
Neuroscientific explanations
What happens in the brain during a profound experience? Advances in neuroscience have begun to illuminate why these states feel so unique. One key factor is neurochemistry. Moments of awe or joy trigger a rush of neurotransmitters like dopamine (associated with pleasure and reward) and serotonin (which affects mood and perception). For example, experiencing awe – say at a stunning sunset or in prayer – can “trigger the release of dopamine in the brain”, making us feel intensely good and engaged.
Surges of oxytocin (the social bonding chemical) and endorphins can also occur, especially in experiences of deep love or spiritual ecstasy, contributing to feelings of bliss and connection. Brain imaging studies further reveal that during peak states, certain brain networks behave differently. Notably, the default mode network (DMN) – the network active when our mind wanders or we self-reflect – tends to quiet down. Research shows that awe-inducing events “reduce activity in the default mode network (DMN), a brain network linked to daydreaming and mind-wandering,” which may be why we feel “more connected to something greater than ourselves” in those moments. In other words, our usual ego chatter and sense of separateness suspend, allowing a feeling of unity or “small self.” Similarly, studies of seasoned meditators find that meditation is associated with reduced activation in DMN regions involved in self-focus.
Neuroscientists call this effect transient hypofrontality – a temporary downregulation of the frontal cortex (particularly midline structures linked to self) – observed in meditation, flow states, and even psychedelic experiences. This neural quieting can free up the brain to integrate a flood of new sensations or insights without the filter of ego, contributing to the “other-worldly,” hyper-real quality of the experience. Meanwhile, emotional and sensory regions ramp up their activity. During a mystical “Enlightenment” experience, for instance, the brain’s limbic system (emotion center) lights up intensely, and parts of the parietal lobe (which help form our sense of space and self) show unusual activity – correlating with reports of losing the usual sense of self and time. In short, profound experiences appear to be neural fireworks: the brain enters a unique state of hyper-coordination (or, conversely, disinhibition of certain circuits) that produces powerful subjective effects. However, the brain also has strong homeostatic mechanisms that pull us back to our baseline state, which is one reason these vivid alterations don’t persist indefinitely.
The challenge of sustaining these states
Why the feelings fade
As exhilarating and insightful as a peak experience can be, one of the great frustrations is that the feeling doesn’t last. From a neurobiological standpoint, this makes sense: the brain and body strive for homeostasis. A prolonged ecstatic or aroused state would be taxing to maintain – neurotransmitter levels would deplete, and neural circuits would begin to adapt. Psychologically, we also undergo what’s known as hedonic adaptation. We simply get used to heightened states quicker than we expect. Just as people who win the lottery or achieve a long-sought goal often find their happiness settling back to baseline, even life-changing spiritual highs can normalize over time. Research on the “hedonic treadmill” shows that “changes in experiences tend only to induce happiness temporarily as we get used to new circumstances”. In other words, our initial peak of joy or enlightenment gradually tapers as the mind incorporates it and re-adjusts its expectations. This is an evolutionary asset – it keeps us functioning in daily life – but it can feel like a loss as the glow of a profound event dims.
Neurologically, without reinforcement, the neural pathways supporting the intense state may weaken. The brain’s plasticity means it’s built to change, but also to un-change if a stimulus is not repeated. A one-off surge of spiritual euphoria might not instantly rewire the brain for good; instead, repeated practice or recall would be needed to solidify those neural connections. This creates a tension between the profound and the mundane. However, through intentional practice, one can use these moments as tools to find inner freedom instead of allowing them to slip away.
Transcendence vs. Daily life
There is also a stark psychological contrast between transcendence and the mundane that can create tension. After touching the sky, so to speak, how do we return to earth and wash the dishes or answer emails? Many people report an emotional comedown or even depression following peak experiences. The ordinary world may seem drab or trivial in comparison to the vastness or joy they felt. In spiritual circles, this phenomenon is sometimes poetically called “the Dark Night of the Soul” – the disorientation or sorrow that can follow an awakening. As one account notes, “yes, there is bliss and oneness, but there can also be tremendous sorrow or disorientation… People euphemistically call this
“The Dark Night of the Soul”, emphasizing how difficult it can be to adjust back to normal life. Psychologists have observed similar effects in various contexts. For example, after a peak psychedelic journey or a silent meditation retreat, individuals might experience a bluesy period of integration where they feel isolated, moody, or longing to return to that heightened state. Part of this challenge is cognitive: our minds struggle to reconcile the two realities – the transcendent insight versus the grind of daily routine. There may be a sense of dissonance (“How can both these realities be true? How do I live knowing what I felt?”). Moreover, friends or family who didn’t share the experience may not understand its significance, leaving the person feeling a bit alienated or unable to fully communicate the importance of what happened. All of this can lead to a subtle avoidance – people might begin to dismiss their peak experience as “just a fluke” or something impractical, shelving the insights as they get swept back into daily stresses. In worst cases, one can fall into a post-peak depression, yearning for a state that seems lost. The good news is that with conscious effort, it’s possible to bridge the gap between those lofty states and everyday life. Rather than chasing the high again or lamenting its loss, we can learn to integrate the experience – preserving its wisdom and positive effects in a sustainable way.
Integrating profound experiences into everyday life
From peak to plateau
One concept that offers hope for sustaining the benefits of peak experiences comes from Maslow’s later work. He introduced the idea of “plateau experiences”, which are quieter but more enduring forms of consciousness. Unlike the explosive, intense peak, “plateau-experiences…differ from the ‘white hot’ ecstatic moments of peaks by comprising sustained periods of serene joy”. For example, a new parent might spend hours calmly marveling at their sleeping baby, or one might feel a steady, gentle awe while walking in nature. These are not lightning-bolt epiphanies but rather a continuous heightening of appreciation and meaning. Maslow suggested that we can cultivate such plateaus through practice and mindset. “No single experience, however intense, will bring us there… rather, it involves a gradual journey”, he wrote, emphasizing that reaching a “high plateau” of enlightenment or unity is a cumulative process. In practical terms, this means integrating frequent mini-peaks or reminders of transcendence into life, so that over time one’s baseline level of consciousness is raised.
Instead of relying on a one-time mountaintop moment, we make a habit of seeking awe in small doses and fostering gratitude and presence day to day. This doesn’t diminish the value of the grand experience – it actually honors it by building upon it. The peak becomes a north star for personal growth rather than an unrepeatable anomaly.
Mindfulness and daily spiritual practice
One of the most effective psychological techniques for integration is mindfulness, derived from Buddhist traditions but now widely used in psychology. Mindfulness means maintaining a gentle awareness of the present moment – tuning into one’s thoughts, feelings, and sensations with acceptance. After a profound experience, practicing mindfulness can help keep the memory and meaning of that event alive without clinging to it. For instance, someone who had a transcendent moment in nature might institute a short daily meditation where they recall that feeling of connectedness, observing whatever emotions arise. This regular “checking in” can prevent the insight from fading completely into distant memory. On a neuroscientific level, mindfulness practices are known to reinforce neural pathways associated with attention and emotion regulation. Remarkably, studies show that even when a person is not actively meditating, if they have undergone mindfulness training their brain behaves differently at rest – suggestive of a lasting trait change. In one Harvard study, participants who completed an eight-week meditation program showed persistent changes in brain activation patterns (notably in the amygdala, a key emotion center) even during ordinary activities, indicating that the effects of meditation “hold steady” beyond the meditation session itself. What this implies is that habits of mind can be trained: if you regularly induce a calmer, more aware state (as you might have touched during a peak experience), over time your brain learns to return there more easily and stays there longer. Meditation, yoga, prayer, or breathwork – any contemplative practice – can serve as a bridge between the extraordinary and the ordinary, by gradually making the ordinary a bit more extraordinary. Even a few minutes each morning of mindful breathing or recalling a profound insight can set a reflective tone for your day, so you carry a piece of that experience with you. Many people also benefit from small rituals, such as lighting a candle or saying a brief affirmation that encapsulates the insight they gained (for example, “remember that love connects everything” or “I am part of a larger whole”). These acts anchor the transcendent value in a tangible routine.
Cognitive reframing and meaning-making
Another psychological strategy is cognitive reframing – consciously interpreting daily events through the lens of your profound experience. This is where techniques from positive psychology and even therapy can help. For instance, after a spiritual epiphany about what truly matters in life, you might reframe a frustrating day at work as an opportunity to practice the patience or compassion you felt during your epiphany, rather than a meaningless grind. By deliberately relating mundane challenges to the bigger picture, you integrate the insight that “came from above” into the ground of your life. Narrative therapy provides a useful tool here: it involves crafting a personal narrative that empowers you. A therapist skilled in this approach might encourage you to tell the story of your peak experience, highlighting the strengths and values it revealed, and then weave that story into your ongoing life story. Narrative techniques “support individuals to develop alternative and empowering life stories” and not be dominated by problems or old patterns. In the context of a transformative experience, this could mean identifying how that moment revealed your resilience, your capacity for joy, or your connection to others, and then re-authoring your
self-image to include those qualities in everyday settings. Journaling can be immensely helpful for this kind of meaning-making. Writing about the experience and its aftermath helps externalize thoughts and find coherent meaning. In fact, expressive writing has well-documented mental health benefits. Studies have found that people who journal about emotionally significant events tend to experience reductions in stress and depressive symptoms and even improvements in physical health. The act of writing forces you to organize your thoughts and reflect on how the experience changed you, which solidifies its lessons. To integrate a peak experience, one might keep a dedicated “insight journal” – returning to write about that experience’s significance periodically, perhaps on the anniversary of the event or whenever life circumstances change. Rereading these entries over time can reinforce how that moment continues to influence your decisions, priorities, and worldview.
Neural reinforcement and habit formation
From a neuroscientific perspective, the principle of “neurons that fire together, wire together” offers guidance on sustaining positive states. That adage summarizes how repeated activation of certain neural circuits strengthens them over time. If your profound experience activates a mental state of, say, deep peace or compassion, then deliberately re-activating that state will help “wire it in” as a more common trait. This could involve visualization – regularly recalling the sensory details and feelings of the experience to trigger a mild version of it. It could also involve engaging in similar conditions to what sparked the peak: for example, if a wilderness hike gave you a spiritual high, making time for frequent nature walks (even if shorter or less dramatic) will keep exercising those mental muscles.
Essentially, practice the state you want to maintain. This is analogous to physical exercise: one intense workout can’t permanently make you fit; it’s the consistent training afterward that maintains the gains. Likewise, treat a peak experience as the “initial breakthrough” and then follow it with practice and habits that re-create aspects of that state. Over time, what was once extraordinary can become more accessible. Scientific studies on long-term meditators show actual structural changes in the brain – areas related to attention, empathy, and self-awareness can thicken, and stress-responsive areas like the amygdala can shrink, after months or years of regular practice (Harvard researchers study how mindfulness may change the brain in depressed patients – Harvard Gazette) (Harvard researchers study how mindfulness may change the brain in depressed patients – Harvard Gazette). This neuroplastic change is the biological evidence that integration is possible: our brains can be trained to sustain the qualities glimpsed in a fleeting epiphany.
Practical daily strategies
In addition to the broad approaches above, there are many concrete steps one can take to anchor profound experiences in daily life:
Journaling and reflection: Maintain a routine of reflecting on the experience. This could be a nightly journal where you note moments in the day that resonated with the insight you gained. Even writing a letter to your future self about how you felt and what you learned can serve as a touchstone to reread when you need inspiration. Research shows journaling promotes emotional processing and can “cultivate a greater sense of meaning as well as better health” in the long term. It helps convert ephemeral feelings into articulated values and goals.
Reminders in your environment: Alter your living or work space in small ways that remind you of the experience. This might mean displaying a photo or symbol from the time/place of your peak experience, creating a playlist of music that evokes it, or even using a particular scent (aromatherapy) that you associate with that memory. Such sensory cues can quickly bring back a touch of the state. For example, if a meditation retreat brought you peace, lighting the same incense you used there could help cue up a calm mindset on a stressful day. These are like “integration tools” – little anchors tying the present moment to that meaningful past moment.
Ritualize your insights: Humans have used ritual for millennia to give form to the sacred. You can design personal rituals that encapsulate the meaning of your experience. If your profound moment gave you a sense of forgiveness or release, perhaps perform a small ritual of letting go (like writing fears on paper and burning it safely) each month. If it made you feel connected to others, you might institute a gratitude practice at dinner where you share one meaningful thing from your day. By ritualizing, you transform abstract insight into concrete action regularly.
Social sharing and support: Don’t underestimate the power of sharing your experience with trusted others. Telling the story (to a friend, a support group, or a therapist) not only helps you process it; it can also boost your positive feelings. Studies find that directly sharing a positive experience with someone can increase happiness and life satisfaction more than just privately recalling it (Sharing positive experiences boosts happiness - Positive News - Positive News). When others respond with enthusiasm or understanding, it “makes the experience feel more real” and builds a supportive container for it going forward (Sharing positive experiences boosts happiness- Positive News - Positive News). Consider joining communities of like-minded people – for example, meditation groups, spiritual communities, or even online forums – where you can discuss such peak experiences openly. Having peers who validate and relate to your insights provides reinforcement. They might have tips on integrating their own profound moments that you can learn from. Social connection also keeps you accountable to living your values; it’s harder to forget an awakening when your friends gently remind you of the growth they saw in you.
Therapeutic and coaching interventions: If you find it particularly challenging to cope after a major experience, seeking the help of a therapist or life coach can be extremely useful. Therapists can provide a safe space to explore the significance of what you felt and gently challenge you to apply it. Many therapists are familiar with post-peak or post-psychedelic integration practices – essentially, helping clients bridge the gap between a transformative event and their ongoing life. Techniques like narrative therapy (as mentioned) or cognitive-behavioral strategies can reframe any negative feelings (“I’ll never get that feeling back” can be reframed to “I was lucky to have that experience, and I carry its lessons with me”). A coach or mentor might help translate your big insight into concrete life goals. For instance, if you came away feeling “I need to be more compassionate,” a coach can help you set up volunteering or communication practices that enact that compassion regularly. The key is that therapy and coaching help keep you engaged with the material of the experience over time, rather than allowing it to slip into the past. They provide structure and encouragement for integration. As a result, your profound experience becomes not a perfect bygone memory, but a seed for ongoing development.
Revisit and renew: Finally, remember that integration is an ongoing process. Many people benefit from periodically revisiting the source of their inspiration. This could mean going on an annual retreat or pilgrimage to “recharge” the spiritual batteries, or simply scheduling solitary day-trips to a place that gives you that sense of awe. Each subsequent peak experience can refresh and deepen the lessons of the previous ones. Just as one therapy session or one workout isn’t the end-all, neither is one epiphany – consider it part of a lifelong journey of growth. Over time, you may find that the highs and the everyday baseline meet in the middle, producing a generally richer day-to-day experience.
Profound experiences may be fleeting, but their impact doesn’t have to vanish. By integrating these moments into daily practices, people sustain their transformative effects and, most importantly, find inner freedom. Psychology and neuroscience both affirm that the brain-mind system is malleable – with practice and intention, we can train ourselves to embody the insights from our peak moments. This integration is essential for long-term well-being because it closes the gap between who we were in that shining moment and who we are the rest of the time.
Rather than chasing the next high or grieving a lost feeling, we learn to infuse our normal days with the meaning, perspective, and vitality gained from extraordinary days. In doing so, life becomes more consistently fulfilling. As the saying goes, “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” The tasks of life remain, but we are changed in how we approach them. With mindful practices, supportive relationships, and purposeful habits, we carry the flame of our profound experiences forward, lighting our path well into the future. Encouragement: If you’ve had a brief moment that felt sacred or transformative, treat it as a gift and a guide. Honor it by reflecting on it, sharing it, and shaping your life around its wisdom in small ways each day. In time, those “peak” values can become woven into the fabric of your being – a source of strength, joy, and direction that endures. Keep climbing, keep integrating, and your life itself can become a more continuous journey of growth and meaning beyond those isolated peaks.
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Triva A. Ponder, Family Therapist
Triva A. Ponder is a family therapist and the founder of Inner Freedom Consulting, where she helps individuals and couples reclaim their energy and improve their relationships. She specializes in communication skills, guiding couples to remove pain from conversations and replace complaints with clear, positive expressions of their needs. With a compassionate and practical approach, Triva empowers clients to cultivate deeper connections, emotional resilience, and healthier relationships. Learn more at InnerFreedomConsulting.com.
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