I have to admit something, I find myself amazed by nature almost daily and my kids think its a little over the top. First, I don’t care its fun to be blown away by the world around me. Second, I think kids are just expecting the unexpected all the time. I mean the world is newer to them, each interaction has some level of unfamiliar; until they hit the teens and nothing seems to be interesting (we just hit the teen years with our oldest). But what does this have to do with being in awe?
Awe has been described as a mixture of surprise and fear. It is the recognition of things bigger than us. The Oxford dictionary defines it as, “a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder.” I believe many think of this feeling as being associated with grandness like, mountains and waterfalls, stars and grand canyons. But I also think that when we rediscover the simple stories of the earth we can find this feeling through the simplest aspects of nature. Which is great because awe has the ability to alter the way we perceive time, improve our mental and physical health, and improve our interactions with other humans. One study mentioned that experiencing awe has similar health benefits as eating a healthy diet.
That is amazing to me, that the simple act of recognizing the power and beauty around us can provide such healthful benefits. In fact I’m in awe at the power of awe… I would love to be able to provide you, my dear readers, with some things that I have found helpful in experiencing these feelings regularly. Let us begin with the fact that all living things have a story and a journey that come with them and learning, or relearning, them can help us find that sense of wonder.
I homeschool both my kids and have since they were little, this led me to rediscovering the old stories about the earth that I had, in many ways, taken for granted. A simple example; most likely we have all learned the story of water on this planet. It evaporates into the atmosphere, creating clouds, then falls to the earth. Sometimes as snow other times as rain, dew or fog. Once it comes back down to earth it makes its way back to the ocean. This seems so basic and yet if you look closer it could lead to so many possibilities for being amazed.
First, all clouds are just water floating in the air. When was the last time you watched clouds puff across the sky and thought about the fact that they are just water in a different form? Second, water can change shape and density. It can be a liquid, solid and gas, its literally magic. Third, if those were not enough to get your mind ticking what about the fact that this water cycle means that the water we see, drink and hold in our own bodies is the same water that dinosaurs drank from. Our water doesn’t leave the earth, it is a closed system. Right this very minute you could have water inside you that was once in a mammoth or a dinosaur!
No matter how old you believe the earth to be or how you believe this planet came about, this water has seen it all and experienced it all. Water links us to all time on this earth and I find that to be incredibly humbling and a whole lot magic.
Its not just water though, why does the sun rise in the east and set in the west? Because we are sitting on a planet suspended in space, held by the gravity of a giant ball of burning gas. How do plants get nutrients, they speak to bacteria in the soil through chemicals. Plants talk to other species, letting them know what they need and these other species will sacrifice themselves, they literally get eaten by other bacteria in order to provide the nutrients the plant has requested. Trees talk to each other and they talk to fungi. Fungi connect the entire world they even run under the ocean floor and have the ability to carry nutrients anywhere.
All of this blows my mind when I take time to appreciate the stories. I will sit in my window on a rainy day and consider the power of water, how it can erode massive rocks through patient and consistent movement and that the water I am watching fall from the sky is the same water that created the Grand Canyon. I love to be out in my garden watching my food grow out of the soil and wonder what it would be like to converse with tiny microbes and have them be willing to die to feed me. Sometimes that leads me to thinking about how plants are alive and turn sunlight into food (all casually) and then I come along and cut off pieces of them to feed myself.
The world is full of wonder and these are just a couple examples. Perhaps you would like to take five minutes of your time and consider something you learned about nature when you were young and ponder the wider implications? Maybe in so doing you can find yourself in awe at the simplest things. Or perhaps you will read this and think that I live in a place that is a little out there and that’s ok too.
