It’s not every day you get choked up eating chicken marsala. But there I was. Mouth full of mushrooms. Tears in my eyes.

We were having dinner with friends at a cozy Italian restaurant on a Friday night. Seated by the window, our booth offered a nice view of Main Street. Outside, a couple was enjoying ice cream at a table on the sidewalk. About halfway into our meal, a man in Army fatigues walked up and tapped the woman on her shoulder. When she turned around, we could hear her gasps of joy as she jumped up and hugged him.

I started crying, too. Turns out, I was experiencing what psychological anthropologist Alan Fiskeis calls “kama muta,” which means being moved by love. The reaction includes a sudden emotional surge of communal sharing and compassion coupled with physical sensations like getting choked up or feeling warm and fuzzy.

Thinking about that night, I realize that witnessing someone else’s WOW! Moment—like having a son return home from deployment—can be a WOW! Moment for you, the observer, too.

According to Fiskeis, there are bystander benefits. He writes, “When people are isolated and vulnerable, excluded, and distressed, kama muta can reconnect them. Patients who feel kama muta with their psychotherapists seem to become more trusting and more committed to healing.”

Another type of shared WOW! is what social scientists call “freudenfreude.” Inspired by the German word for “joy,” it’s happiness you can feel when watching someone else succeed. I felt freudenfreude last weekend when my son Nick called to tell me about his WOW! Moment. (His words … swoon!!)

When he was a student at Michigan State, Nick and his roommates did Muay Thai, a form of Thai boxing. He thought it was a great workout. However, after graduating and getting his first job, his pastime fell through the cracks. In fact, it had been more than a year since he had laced up his gloves.

Recently, Nick decided he wanted more WOWs in his life. So, he found a Muay Thai gym and invited a friend to join him. The morning of the class, the friend overslept and cancelled, but Nick went anyway. When it was over, he called me from his car, drenched in sweat and smiling. He admitted that he almost “yacked” (again, his words) after the first half hour but was able to finish the remaining hour of the workout. His WOW! became my WOW! too. Freudenfreude!!

In an interview with The New York Times, a postdoctoral psychology fellow at Harvard University, Erika Weisz, compares freudenfreude to positive empathy, which is feeling someone else’s positive emotions. Research has found that it can foster resilience and cooperation and help you become more satisfied with life. How great is that??!!

Witnessing someone else’s WOW! helps you look at the world a little differently. Sometimes, you saw the work it took for them to get there. Other times, you happen upon the WOW! by chance. Either way, it’s a good reminder that we’re all connected. We all have dreams. And we all gain so much satisfaction, whether we’re the one achieving something new or we’re in the wings, cheering the other person on.

So, share your WOWs with others so they can bask in your glory. And pay attention to what the people in your life are going after. WOWs can have a ripple effect long after the moment has passed.