Do you remember the last time you felt goosebumps when you saw something? That feeling of letting out a loud wow – widened eyes and everything. I will be honest – for me it has been a while. Just last week the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) were visible at different times and parts if you live in the Northern Hemisphere. Awe. Getting to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro and looking around you. Awe.. The world is noisy yall. We have so much input coming from so many places our poor brains are struggling to sift through what is awesome and what is mediocre.
Kids days are full of awe-filled experiences. Most things in the world feel novel to them. Sometimes I worry how much of that child-like awe is being short-circuited by the constant input mode we are on. Whether it is on our end as they run to share and awe-filled moment or trick or on their end when they are inundated with devices and shows and all kinds of digital stimuli that the normal world begins to become boring. As parents one word I have heard is the secret sauce in parenting is using the word wow? It is a game changer apparently in sharing in kids sense of awe.
Dacher Keltner , a social psychologist has studied awe as an emotion and written an amazing book. He describes awe as “the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your understanding of the world.” It is my hope that us technology and how we interact with it evolves that we as humanity may not loose our sense of wonder and awe even in the mundane of life.
Oh here are some pics of our recent trip to the aquarium. The kids made the trip more exciting with their oohs and aahs.
“See the world through the eyes of your inner child.
The eyes that sparkle in awe and amazement as they see love, magic and mystery in the most ordinary things.” – Henna Sohail