Be More Nature-al!

This week’s post will be short and sweet, because instead of talking about it for ages, I’ve been using my time to put this one into action. Also today is my four year wedding anniversary and as soon as my husband is free, I’m ditching you all for date night… 😉

We all know that getting ourselves outside, and in the wilderness is hugely important. Elmo, our parents, and Michelle Obama have been telling us this for decades. I fully acknowledge that understanding and believing something is in reality very different from doing it. While I can’t identify every reason you might have to avoid nature, I want to share

5 Reasons to Get Outside:

1. Oxygen!

You know how long we can go without oxygen before there are serious physical and mental consequences? Minutes. If you’re a free diver, you can get up to maybe 10-20 minutes, but for the unpracticed average person, it’s more like two. Your body can’t go two minutes without oxygen and yet we sometimes go all day without taking a deep breath, and honestly days without spending time in a place with fresh air. Proper oxygenation is hugely important for good cellular and muscular function, and yet unless we can’t do it properly, or are struggling in physical exertion most of us don’t really think about it.

2. That Sweet, Sweet Vit D

While the sun has increasingly been portrayed as a dangerous fire in the sky, to be feared and avoided, the human body can’t function well without sunshine. Please don’t go spray yourself with sunscreen and bake on the seashore and think you are doing your body a favor because, vitamin D, but getting some sun exposure every day has huge benefits for your health and happiness as it increases serotonin, improves your body’s ability to absorb vitamins and minerals, and overall improves the body’s ability to create new cells and function properly.

3. Mindset Change

When we remove the walls around our bodies we remove some of the boundaries in our minds as well. The simple act of going outside changes the things we think about and how we process thoughts. When we leave the phone behind and actually get into the woods, stroll on the beach or float in a lake we open our minds to be able to actually process and create new ideas. Day after day in the same routine ensures that we will continue wearing the same pattern in our mental carpet, and experiencing nature shakes up that pattern.

4. New Perspective

I don’t know about you, but when I am in nature I can’t help but think of the intricacies of it all, and the contrasting grandness. Marveling at the tiny patterns on a flower, or the vastness of a wooded canopy force me to acknowledge my own amazing design, the magnificence of my own body and mind. Secluded bits of the world help me to forget the expectations of others, my perceived limits, the negative things I think about myself and others, and all the little things that have “gone wrong” in the last week or month. I become more generous. I feel more loving. I’m ready to face the world with renewed power.

5. Energy Recharge.

We all learned in school about the unique energy of the earth, the poles, the currents, and the energy force in all things. It’s a basic tenant of science, and yet we rarely take the time to put ourselves in a place with a different energy. The soothing rhythms of waves, the rushing of a waterfall, the rustling of leaves, are all soothing, at least in part because they allude to the energy beneath the actions. Give yourself a good 20 minute walk on some good old fashioned dirt, and tell me if you don’t feel energetically different. (Read more about that here)

We all know I could fill a few more pages, but why just talk about it?! Instead I’m gonna go have some tea, put my feet in the grass, and breathe deeply. I hope you join me!