RECONNECT WITH NATURE
Get outside and experience awe in your local nature. Go alone, with your friends, or with your family to the park, to the beach, to the forest, to a lake or to the mountains near you. This is good for the body, it is good for the mind, and it is good for the soul. Being outdoors helps reduce blood pressure and cortisol levels. It helps reduce stress and anxiety. It helps us to focus.
It has been proven that contact with trees is healthy for us, both physically and mentally. Confusius said: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” His words couldn’t be more true today. We need more trees, more plants, and more wilderness. We need to create spaces where life can flourish.
We live busy and stressful lives, and taking the time to nourish our bodies and appreciate the nature around us will help us to be calmer, happier and more fulfilled. We don’t even have to be exercising to reap these benefits. Just being outside is good enough.
educate yourself
Here is an article by Yale Environment that explains the health benefits of being out in nature at least two hours per week.
Watch this TED Talk by Scott Sampon, author of ‘How to raise a wild child’, which explains the benefits of getting children acquainted with local nature around them.
GET ACTIVE!
Aim to enjoy your local nature for 30 minutes or so as often as you can.
Take your children outside regularly to appreciate local nature.
Take time to be silent in nature and to observe things around you.
Join a community garden.
Work with your local community to convert empty parking lots, tiled school playgrounds and other unused paved areas into green spaces.
In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught." (Baba Dioum, 1968)
