Renew your sense of wonder outdoors
- Michelle Wood: SWCD
- February 26, 2018
- 1413
Anyone who has spent time with a young child in nature has seen the scenario played over and over. Rachel Carson said it beautifully, “A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement.”
He was a 3-year-old, 3-foot-tall little pillar of energy zooming around the yard. Suddenly he stopped, brought to a standstill by a small plant. To me it was just an ordinary plant; to him it was mesmerizing.
He carefully leaned closer and gently held a leaf in his small hand. Next, a speckled stone caught his attention, followed by several tiny insects that were lovingly washed with wide-eyed wonder.
Anyone who has spent time with a young child in nature has seen the scenario played over and over. Rachel Carson said it beautifully, “A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement.”
Children do a brilliant job of using all of the five senses to learn about their surroundings. Adults also do a good job of using sensory input to gain knowledge. Children, however, not only take in knowledge, but they also permit something else to take over and fill them with curiosity, amazement and even awe. They simply allow wonder to overwhelm them.
Unfortunately we adults don’t do so well in the wonder department. Instead of allowing ourselves to simply be amazed, we over analyze the situation. Scientists and philosophers debate whether “wonder” is a biological or psychological construct, a soul-expanding experience or even a window into creation itself. But children don’t worry about definitions; they just allow themselves to be overwhelmed.
What happens between childhood and adulthood that pushes wonder into the background? Rachel Carson cautioned against the “sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial.” That’s a big deal today. Think how often we substitute “sterile” electronic texts and emails for face-to-face or even voice-to-voice communication.
More troublesome, however, are our frantic efforts to seal ourselves in controlled environments. We spend hours manipulating pixels and screens to create virtual experiences when the real thing is just outside the window.
If we stifle our sense of wonder, we miss the powerful nature metaphors that can enrich our lives. The emergence of a monarch butterfly from a chrysalis mirrors hope and renewal, much like the radiance of a starry sky hints of eternity. Watching a tiny sunflower seed grow into an 8-foot plant is reassuring and comforting in ways that go beyond words.
So how do we recapture that elusive sense of wonder? The good news is that we can rekindle it at any age and in any season of the year. Here are three ways to get started:
Get out and move: It’s that simple. Get off the couch, away from the desk, out of the car. If nature is going to wow you, you have to make contact.
Focus your senses: Look intentionally for patterns and color. Listen for natural sounds that usually get lost in mechanical noise. Breathe deeply, touch your surroundings. Savor some parsley from your garden.
Take a child outdoors: Children will show you wonder in weeds and rocks, puddles and sidewalk cracks.
In our complex and sometimes scary world, we all need a healthy dose of overwhelming wonder.
Salamanders on the move
Amphibians sure know how to celebrate spring. Sometime during mid-February to early April the woods and vernal pools around us will come alive with the annual salamander migration.
It’s impossible to tell the exact date. Everything depends on temperature, precipitation and darkness. The migration seems to occur when three factors come together: 50 F or higher temperatures, steady gentle rain and total darkness.
When those factors come together, the salamanders emerge from the woods and head for the vernal pools, those small shallow depressions that fill up in the wet weather of late winter and spring. Since these small pools dry up later in the summer, there are no fish to feast on salamander eggs.
Salamanders will travel over half a mile to get to a vernal pool. Sometimes they have to cross a roadway to reach the water, which can abruptly end the mating ritual for those with bad timing.
The adults don’t stay long at the pool, just long enough to lay and fertilize eggs. Because salamander populations return to the same pools every year, it’s important to maintain these ephemeral wetlands.
For a unique family outing, periodically check The Wilderness Center’s Facebook page or website for information about salamander hikes. Salamanders are guaranteed “wonder inducers.”
Contact Herb Broda at 4nature.notebook@gmail.com.