People talk about how a view of the mountains, or a view of the ocean is grounding. The typical abstraction is that it is something so massive, imposing, and powerful that it makes your problems feel small. What if it was simply that where you place your gaze.
Your posture affects your biochemistry. Putting your feet up on your desk at work boosts your testosterone and makes you feel more confident. Same thing for standing in a wide open position in a conversation.
When you stand up straight, you also have positive mood effects. Staring at the ground makes you feel more meager and less confident.
When you walk around a city, your eyes are more naturally drawn to the ground. There are massive buildings all around you removing the skyline from view, and there are obstacles that you need to be aware of as you walk.
Mountains, the ocean, or a view across a field all allow us to look to the horizon. Your eyes drift up, your chest opens up, and your chin moves forward and up. Your body assumes a more confident posture, one more associated with confidence and power.
Mountains draw your gave in a way that the 5th floor of the Chrysler building doesn’t. So here is an experiment, while you are going about your day today, if there are no majestic views of mountains or coastlines, stop for a minute or two and fix your gaze on anything that is at least 100 yards from you and higher than 30 ft, even if it is just a random window on an office building. Stop and admire that window like you were staring off at the skyline over the ocean, and notice how you feel.
You might find that the feelings you associate with seeing a great view are totally replaceable without the view. That the view is only an unnecessary middleman on the way to feeling how you want to feel.
Leave a Reply