Nature, Self and Beyond

BY:  JUGNU AGARWAL

Nurturing the Nature

In the stress of everyday life, we often want a small gap when we can take a break from everything and simply be ourselves. Our daily life is full of anxiety and tension that we often fail to appreciate the smaller things in life. We are often so muddled with thinking about others and we finally lose ourselves in the whole process.

However, the secret to a happy healthy life is to stay connected with your inner self and knowing who you are above everything else. Doesn’t the old saying say “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy?”

If you are wondering how can you do that, the answer would be to take the help of mother nature. Nature has a vast impact on our health and daily well-being – from our physical to our mental health. There has been severe research in this space which has revealed that what we see, hear and experience at any moment affects our mood to a great extent.

Let’s talk about mental health first. Spending some time with nature can have a wide-ranging effect on the human body and mind. Whatever age one might be, nature is always pleasing. That is the reason people insist on building parks and planting trees around us. Being in nature or simply viewing scenes of nature reduces anxiety, anger, fear and stress and brings in a feeling of pleasure in your mind. It calms our mind and brings a harmony within ourselves. The beautiful colours of nature, the pleasant sound of birds chirping or trees murmuring relaxes us and helps sooth the inner currents of our mind.

Speaking about physical health, spending time in nature reduces our blood pressure, muscle tension, heart rate and all the hormones related to stress. Villages have a lesser mortality rate than cities. In fact, through researches, it has been found that keeping even one plant in a hospital room increases the chance of recovery manifold.

So how can you incorporate more of nature to increase your quality of life? Here are a few ways to do so:

Take out time to spend in nature: Don’t worry, you don’t have to hamper your daily routine for this. 10 minutes walk in the park every day is enough to bring harmony to your life. If you have long working hours, take breaks and just walk around.

Incorporate natural things in your life: As mentioned earlier, keeping even one plant matters. Keep a small bonsai on your work desk or a vase of flowers. You can listen to natural sounds while working – it will calm your mind. You will see a great deal of benefit in your work quality too.

 

Meditate in nature: Take 30 minutes out in a week, visit a natural surrounding, sit and simply concentrate on the natural sounds. Concentrate on your inner feelings and thoughts and see how refreshed you feel after that. Chances are that after the first few times, this will become an addiction for you.

Today, our life is full of disturbances – the congestion of the city, the sounds of vehicles, visiting the malls, spending the insane amount of time on the internet, all lead to the stress and anxiety that we experience every day. Taking a time-out from man-made structures and simply being with nature is the way to lead a better life. In a way, it is going back to basics because basics always help.