Awe: Seeing your world for the first time

Hello Hedge Schoolers,<br/><br/>I've come to know the five kilometres around my house really well. 200+ days of lockdown will do that to a person. The streets. The paths. The wildlife. There is a depth to my relationship that was not present before. My ear, locally tuned to the patterns of my area sensed Spring was afoot a few weeks back. New buds, a shift in the patterns of local animals, and a rise in sun height signaled Spring's eager early start. This has been the silver lining of lockdown. While I pine, like others for the liberties beyond the five-kilometre radius, I have come to revere the area that I live in. The boundless amount of beauty available if I just adjust my aperture to take it in. <br/><br/>Beauty<br/><br/>&#8220;A start is to broker communication with beauty. Beauty is created not just by desire but by diligence. By circling again and again like a hawk round the well to what truly sends you both dizzy with admiration but also utterly focused in service. Be mastered by beauty is what I'm saying. Be defeated by it. Rise to it in the weepy faithfulness of your response.&#8221;Martin Shaw - Courting the Wild Twin<br/><br/>Communing with the world around us has so many benefits. Opening our aperture to the wonders of the world takes our breath away. It leaves us in awe. According to <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2020-69974-001">Sturm et al</a>, awe is defined as "a positive emotion elicited when in the presence of vast things not immediately understood and can help reduce self-focus, promote social connection, and foster prosocial actions by encouraging a &#8220;small self." I much prefer Shaw's poetic explanation of awe as "something that sends us dizzy in admiration." Awe reminds us just how big and beautiful the world is and helps us appreciate the smallness of our place amongst it. How our small self meets the beauty of the infinite universe we inhabit. <br/><br/>Awe Walks<br/><br/>While the world is awash with heavy energy, awe is always present. Always available. It just might take