In recent years, I have found truly inspiring events in Nature all around me. From the sounds of various birds, sounds of running streams, and especially the sound of the waves crashing the shore and the little tinkle I hear as it goes out over the rocks. The various trees, plants, water, and flowers around me, get into my soul and give me peace like nothing else I have found.
Walking in Nature has healed me more than any medicine you could find. Even my backyard oasis is a place where I go to be in Nature and feel its healing powers. I can totally relax, out in nature. I find awe-inspiring things all around me, every day, and I do it intentionally.
I make it my purpose to find all the beautiful things around me and appreciate them, right from the spider web I found last year glistening in the sunlight to the peaceful sound of rain hitting my windows.
This intentional act of looking at Nature all around me and soaking in its beauty has had wonderful benefits to my psychological and physical well-being, I can see it and feel it.
“But daily wonders abound if we open our eyes to them, and when we notice and become mindful, we have the opportunity to transform these ordinary moments into something extraordinary.“
In the summer of 2017, I had the opportunity to go on a road trip with some of my family members. I flew to Saskatchewan from Ontario and we drove from there to Vancouver Island. It was a magical trip for me, physically hard, but emotionally the best thing I ever did. I had a blast! I have over 2500 pictures and videos of this trip that I took, mostly from the car, but a lot we got out to see. All the beautiful scenery in Canada will blow your mind!
I saw many awe-inspiring things on that trip and I am forever grateful I got to experience it!
It was on this trip that I started to appreciate Nature and all the benefits it can give to your life. I did see a lot of awe-inspiring things during that 2 weeks vacation that I will always appreciate, but it also allowed me to see everything else I have around me, and I learned to appreciate that too.
I grew up in Newfoundland, which has some of the most beautiful scenery around, but I didn’t appreciate it as I do now. Living in Toronto, where I was, surrounded by apartment buildings and houses, not much nature around to appreciate, but I did find what I could. Every chance we had we went to Rouge Park, where the beautiful sandy beach is, and sit by the water, but it isn’t the same as the Atlantic Ocean. I also enjoyed going to The Bluffs, but the trek was hard in later years for me to make, but we would still go and sit by Lake Ontario. I knew that the Nature of my home, Newfoundland, would offer me the greatest benefits for healing my mental health, and I was right, as it has helped quite a bit.
I have been home 4 years now and the healing I have found here is what I needed. I have come to terms with the smear campaign and cyberbullying of me online in the domain in my name that Tenants stole to use.
Their antics in my name online are no longer important, as I know in the depths of my soul, they are lying about me and what they claim I did in my job there. I am confident in my own truth these days and see what they do, anonymously, clearer now. Their words online speak for themselves. They are Narcissistic people intent on revenge for my part in the eviction they caused by their own actions.
The article I share below gives you some tips on how to be more mindful of your everyday surroundings and find awe in it all, even the most mundane. Truly see things, not just look at them, and you will find something beautiful, that will make you feel good inside. It helps you appreciate everything in your life, it did for me.
I have so much gratitude I am here, able to enjoy everything around me, from the smallest of ants to the biggest of trees. I am forever grateful I live surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and get to see it every day, the ebb and flow of its currents and waves, bring peace to my soul that nothing else will ever do. I am a true Newfoundlander!
Doing these things every day has brought long-lasting benefits to my life and I know it can for anyone.
https://www-psychologytoday-com.cdn.ampproject.org/
KEY POINTS
- Experiencing awe has benefits for our psychological and physical well-being.
- We need not wait for grand events to find awe. We can be intentional about looking for moments of awe in our everyday experiences.
- The power of awe may extend well beyond the experienced event itself and have more lasting beneficial effects.
When we think about being awestruck, we often think of something grandiose such as standing and looking out over the majestic mountains or watching a magnificent sunset at an ocean while vacationing. But daily wonders abound if we open our eyes to them, and when we notice and become mindful, we have the opportunity to transform these ordinary moments into something extraordinary.
How to Bring Moments of Awe Into Your Day
We don’t have to wait for big, momentous events to experience awe in our day. Sometimes awe awaits us no farther away than our doorstep. Here are a few suggestions for bringing the extraordinary into ordinary moments in your day:
- Notice the difference between looking at something and truly seeing it. You might try this with an ordinary object. When I pick up this glass, for example (the one that I drink from day in and day out while hardly attending to it), and see it as if for the first time, I am struck by how it came into creation from sand from the earth heated at high temperatures. I wonder what part of Earth the sand came from, and who all the people were that helped create this. You might try this with the food that you eat at your next meal or something else you encounter routinely in your day.
- Make it a game to find one awe-inspiring thing in each day. It is so easy to overlook things right in front of us as we are caught in the routines of our day. I wonder how many days I missed seeing the single purple crocus pushing its way out of the soil right by my mailbox as if to announce the arrival of spring. What about the mother and baby cooing to each other in the supermarket or the spectacular sunset as I was walking to my car coming home from errands?
- Slow down and take in the good. First, we need to slow down enough to begin to notice more moments of awe in our day. Then, when we notice, we have this opportunity to pause and really take it in rather than just let it pass by. Rick Hanson talks about the benefits of “taking in the good” through a process of noticing positive experiences and then enriching and absorbing them as a felt experience in the body. When we do this over time, Dr. Hanson says, we learn to turn passing states into lasting traits.
- Spend time in nature, or bring nature to you. The natural world, whether a tree or the birds in your backyard or a nearby park or green space, offers great opportunities to experience awe. Spending time in nature has been shown to improve mood, cognitive functioning, physical and psychological health, and well-being. When you can’t be outdoors, you might surround yourself with soothing pictures of nature, or green plants, or sounds of nature—and be intentional about appreciating these. Here’s a video of what it looks like beneath a crashing wave that I found to be truly awe-inspiring.
- Art and music are additional ways that people can have experiences of awe. While seeing art and hearing live music in person is wonderful, one can savor these art forms from one’s home as well. I know many people who report that certain kinds of music have a transcendent quality that moves them to a state of awe.
- Re-experience an awe-inspiring event. Recall a moment when you felt awe. Imagine that event now, as if it were happening, and try to activate your five senses to make the remembered experience as real as possible. Re-experiencing events in our imagination activates similar areas in the brain as if that event were happening now. For an added benefit to enhance this experience, take some time to journal about it.