Subscribe to this Feed by Email
Have you ever experienced a time in your life, when, for no apparent reason, you just felt down in the dumps? You may have tried to spend some quality time "just on yourself " in order to relax, or you may have tried going out to a restaurant with friends to enjoy a good meal and good company. Perhaps you have tried a range of other methods to overcome this feeling but no matter how hard you tried, your spirits remained low.
For the last couple of weeks, I have been stuck in front of my computer working on a project that is very important to me. My every waking hour was consumed by this project and although I imagined that I would feel elated after completing parts of the project, I was confused to find that instead, I was feeling rather depressed. I tried a range of methods to help cheer me up. I had a relaxing bath; cooked a scrumptious meal to enjoy with my family and even watched a light-hearted movie, but to no avail. It was only when I turned to meditation for a solution that the answer came to me: Tune into Nature!
The very next day, I grabbed my camera, a bottle of water and set off to spend a few hours walking in a nature reserve, even though it was pouring with rain. Within a couple of minutes I felt alive again. To be honest, I felt like a young school girl again and had to stop myself from hopping along the path singing: "I'm singing in the rain", a song I often used to sing when I was a child. Mind you, thinking about it now, I should have done just that! I think as adults we often try too hard to restrain our inner child and as a result dampen our own spirits, which only leads to depression and stress.
Interestingly, it has been shown that people who spend 40 minutes walking in a nature reserve, have a drop in both their systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels, but this does not happen when they spend a similar amount of time walking in a busy city centre.
It has also been found that when people spend time outdoors, particularly in places where there is running water, feelings of depression and stress are alleviated, energy levels are boosted and there is an increase in the amount of serotonin, the body's "feel good" hormone, which helps to create feelings of high spirits and elation.
If you feel a little low in spirit and know that you have spent too much time indoors, let your hair down, remove your shoes, let your inner child come out to play and...Tune Into Nature!
0 comments:
Post a Comment