In our busy, high-tech world, it can be easy to forget to make time for nature. Thankfully, a raspy-voiced toddler seeing “mountains” for the first time is giving us the sweet little reminder we all need.
In a video from @dall_ys that’s been viewed over five million times, a mom stands at a lookout with her young child. First, we just hear his awestruck “WHOA” as he peers out over a rock wall at a mass of trees and small mountains. “What is this place, Mama?” he asks.
“It’s mountains,” his mom responds. “Mountains?” he asks, his voice so filled with wonder he might as well have been talking about magic.
A relatable response inspired by nature’s awesomeness
That profound awe at seeing the natural world is relatable at any age, which is why the video is resonating with so many people. We’ve all found ourselves breathless witnessing the magnificent majesty of mountains, the vast awesomeness of the ocean, the stunning beauty of a sunset.
People in the comments celebrated the wee one’s reaction:
“That little voice full of wonder warmed my ❤️.”
“The most amazed ‘whoa’ I have ever heard :)”
“He’s gonna be chasing this high for the rest of his life.”
“May we all find this moment again and again as long as we live.”
“I still have the same reaction. Love it.”
“His little voice just healed something in my soul. Adorable. Heartwarming. Mom’s response is perfection. Mountains are worth the awe for sure.”
“He makes me want to experience seeing mountains for the first time again.”
Being awed by the natural world is genuinely good for you
It’s well-known that spending time in nature offers benefits to our physical and mental health. But it’s not just the fresh air or distance from our screens that creates those benefits.
Awe itself can improve our lives in various ways. Berkeley’s Greater Good Magazine shares studies showing that awe is associated with lower inflammation, improved mood, better critical thinking skills, decreased materialism, greater feelings of connection, and even an expanded perception of time.
Experiencing natural beauty might also make us better people. Dr. Rhett Diessner, who has spent two decades studying the psychology behind attraction to beauty, found that the feeling of wanting to be a good person, also known as “elevation,” can be inspired by nature.
“All the research so far has only found it for moral beauty,” Diessner shared with Forest Therapy Hub. “But in the study I published in Ecopsychology, I found that experiences of beauty in nature also cause elevation. So this is the first time anyone’s published something about that. Because, by definition, elevation is caused by moral beauty. We can be looking at a beautiful mountain, a beautiful tree, a beautiful little creature, and this will elevate us and we’ll feel, ‘I need to be a better person.’”
A child’s pure reaction can inspire us as grownups
That toddler’s sweet little voice may have made his awe feel like a Disney moment, but he’s not the only example of how kids experience awe in such a pure way.
Some parents shared similar memories with their own kids from years ago:
“🥹 When my 18 y/o daughter was two, we were doing a fall clean up and she wanted to show me something. She took my hand and said, ‘Mama, come look at the world with me.’ This is that!”
“That was my baby girl’s reaction when I took her on her first hike when she was 3. She is 11 now and tells me how she wants to be a park ranger when she grows up and I’m so excited for her!”
As grown-ups, we can sometimes be too deep in our thoughts to let nature sweep us away like that. But seeing through a child’s eyes is a good reminder of how simple it can be to experience awe at the beauty of our world. Some of us travel to seek out natural beauty, but as Dr. Diessner told Upworthy, it’s not necessary to go far from home to find it. “Even in towns and cities, we see it in the green spaces. We hear it in the birds next to our house,” he said.
Thank you, little one, for the pure reminder to let ourselves be awed by mountains with your totally warranted “Whoa!”
