The Power of a Nice View: Feast Your Eyes on Beauty

It’s important to appreciate all the beauty that life has to offer.

If you’ve ever witnessed a view on the beach looking at the vast ocean, or the view from the top of a mountain after a long hike, or the view from the height of a skyscraper looking down on a busy city, then you know the power of a beautiful view.

There’s a powerful psychological component behind all these beautiful views that creates a strong sense of awe and inspiration.

A beautiful view can immediately connect us with our surroundings. It makes us step back and think, “Damn, life can be pretty awesome and magical sometimes!”

A lot of our daily problems seem silly and insignificant when we see how much grander life can be.

It’s important to be a good observer too if you want to appreciate these moments of beauty more. You may be accidentally missing out on opportunities to just sit and enjoy your surroundings. This is why I recommend you step back and appreciate your senses, even when it comes to everyday experiences like eating a meal or looking at a piece of art.

A nice view can improve your mood and well-being in many different contexts, including at home or work. One study shows that a nice window view of nature can improve job satisfaction and mental health at work, including making employees less likely to quit their jobs.

Our environment can often influence our mindset a lot more than we realize.

Research shows that even the brightness of a room can influence our mental state. For example, a brighter room often intensifies emotions (whether “positive” or “negative”), while a dimmer room dampens them. So the next time you want to “cool yourself down,” considering fading down the lights a bit.

Everything about a room – lighting, colors, decorations, furniture, windows, etc. – influences your mood and perception.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you should obsess over every little detail; but it is something to be mindful of every now and then, especially when making small changes to your environment.

For now, we are going to focus on the power of a nice view. Here are 5 different types of “nice views” along with some practical tips and suggestions. Let’s get started!

Green Views

The most popular type of “nice views” are nature and green spaces. This includes any type of plants, trees, landscaping, or animals.

We often spend a lot of time indoors, so we don’t get a healthy “dose of nature.”

Activities or habits that can help promote more “green views” include:

• Nature walks – Go to your local park or nature preserve, or even just a walk around the neighborhood (try to spot 3 examples of nature).
• Look out the window – Pay attention to everyday nature that is right in front of you. Look out your closest window and see what you can find; even just opening the blinds and letting natural light in can make a big difference.
• Camping – A weekend camping can be a nice immersive experience with nature, consider taking part in some mindful photography to savor any nice views you find.
• Mountain hikes – Depending on where you live, it could be a frequent option or something to plan for. A nice combination of exercise, nature exploration, and a rewarding view at the top.
• Decorate with plants – It’s small and simple, but even just having some cool plants at your home or work office can help improve the mood a bit. I started collecting plants a couple years ago, and I enjoying taking moments throughout my day to step back and admire them.
• Green neighborhoods – A lot of psychology research shows a link between living in greener environments and increased happiness and life satisfaction. One interesting study even found a correlation between biodiversity (in bird species) with life satisfaction among residents. It’s likely not a direct cause, but it does point to the overall importance of cleaner and greener neighborhoods.

Blue Views

Psychologists are now paying attention to the benefits of both “green spaces” and “blue spaces.” A nice view in a “blue space” can include seas, lakes, rivers, and even water fountains.

Research is still new, but one study suggests exposure to outdoor blue spaces correlates with increased mental health and physical activity. And another interesting study found that “coastal living” was associated with improved mental health, even when controlling for wealth and looking at those in poorer neighborhoods.

Activities or habits that can help promote more “blue views” include:

• Going to the beach – One of the most popular places to get your “blue view” is the beach, whether it’s going with a bunch of family and friends on a weekend afternoon, or just watching the sunrise/sunset by yourself.
• Boardwalks – Time spent on boardwalks is a good way to get your view of the ocean without having to go through other “beach hassles” like getting sandy, dealing with seagulls stealing your stuff, or needing to wash yourself after. Get some walking in too!
• Lakes, rivers, waterfalls – Remember that blue spaces also include lakes, rivers, streams, and waterfalls. Any body of water can be a beautiful view to sit back and admire.
• Water fountains – Water fountains in cities and man-made structures can be equally enjoyable to view, such as this beautiful piece in Singapore.



• Enjoy a boat ride – Go on a boat ride for a more immersive “blue view.” It’s quite a feeling to be completely surrounded by ocean.
• Bridges – Bridges can be a good place to find a nice view of a body of water, even if you’re just driving, running, or biking through.
• Marine life – There’s a lot of animal life to enjoy by bodies of water too such as fish and birds. I’m lucky enough to currently live in Florida where I get a lot of “blue views.” When I get the chance to spot a dolphin or manatee, it’s usually an instant highlight to my day.

City Views

While often “nice views” are associated with nature, we can’t deny the beauty of cities.

It’s exciting to visit classic cities like New York, London, or Paris and admire their architecture and design, especially reflecting back on their rich histories and the meaning behind such places.

It’s motivating and inspiring to see the magnificent things humans are capable of. Preliminary research has shown that complex architecture designs can catch our attention, increase mental engagement, and have restorative effects on mental health, including feelings of awe and fascination.

Activities or habits that can help promote more “city views” include:

• Traveling – If you don’t live in a big city, then traveling and spending a week is the best way to get nice “city views.” Every big city has its own personality and characteristics, so you have to spend time there to get a feel for each one.
• Tour guides – Tour guides often know the best places to bring you and have extra knowledge and history they can share with you. Understanding more about the historical significance of a place can make the view that much more meaningful and powerful.
• Helicopter rides – Looking down on a city from a helicopter or plane can give you a better sense of the massive scale of these cities and just how magnificent they are from an architecture and design standpoint.

High Views

Nice views from great heights can give us a sense of power and confidence.

It’s been theorized that high views may be rewarding from an evolutionary perspective, because often the highest places are the best for scanning our environment and searching for potential food or threats.

In today’s world, we also associate “high views” with power, dominance, and social status. The king sits at the top of his throne looking down on the world, the CEO has the top floor with the best view of the city.

Try practicing power posing at great heights for bonus points.

Activities or habits that can help promote more “high views” include:

• Mountaintops, hills, and canyons – Any type of green view or blue view from a high place.
• Skyscrapers, rooftops, bridges, top floors – Any type of city view from a high place.
• Planes, helicopters, hot air balloons – Any type of high view from a vehicle while flying.
• Lighthouses, observatories – Any man-made structures built for observing landscapes or terrain.



• Rollercoasters, ferris wheels, amusement rides – Many rides at theme parks are great opportunities to enjoy heights (depending on your fear level).
• Drones – A lot of commercially available drones provide ways to observe and record enormously high and beautiful views (all while you’re safe on the ground).

Sky Views

Just as we feel powerful looking down on our surroundings, we can also feel inspired looking up.

Activities or habits that can help promote more “sky views” include:

• Sunrises and sunsets – Always beautiful times of the day to enjoy a good view.
• Stargazing – Looking up at the stars at night is always a humbling experience, here’s a little star gazing meditation to go along with it.
• Finding shapes in the clouds – The classic game of looking up at the clouds on a nice summer day and seeing what you can find. Add a little creativity to your sky view!
• Planetarium – Planetariums can provide artificial “sky views,” but they can be just as awe-inspiring.

  

• Bird watching – A more nature-oriented sky viewing. You can also turn it into a friendly competition with a friend to see who can spot/identify the most species.

We have many beautiful views to choose from

There are a lot of ideas and suggestions above, but the key takeaway is that we have a lot of beautiful views in life to choose from.

Not only is it important we admire good aesthetics in life, but these places can also be a great opportunity for reflection and thinking about the deeper questions in life.

What nice views are available to you today?

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