Staying connected to the natural world will relax your body, free your mind, and restore a sense of balance and perspective. The earth's bounty is infinitely healing and calming. Spending time in nature soothes an overexcited nervous system, and it remains the one universal cure for stress and despair. Despite being surrounded by privation and unimaginable horror and despair, Anne Frank was able to write, 'The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature, and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes people happy, amidst the simple beauty of Nature.'
Get out of bed, go outside and take a breath of fresh air. Soak up the morning's beauty before everyone else wakes up. Admire the washed-clean bright blue of the sky after it's rained, listen to the magpies' liquid call, touch the graceful strip of bark peeling from a gum tree. Feel the sun on your face, and let the wind lift your hair and play with it. Go barefoot whenever you can. Kick off your shoes and let yourself feel the grass or sand beneath your feet. A symbol of connection with the earth and our personal freedom, it's also one of the quickest of all ways to slow down, recharge your spirit and find balance in your life.
Can't get outside? Use your imagination. As Albert Einstein said, 'Logic will get you from A to B. But imagination will take you everywhere.' It doesn't matter if you're up to your elbows in soapsuds at the kitchen sink, or studying late at night, you can still close your eyes, take a deep breath, and picture yourself walking along a beach at twilight, diving beneath a wave and tasting the salt water, or sitting on a moss-covered rock and dangling your fingers in the icy-cold water of a mountain stream.
By creating a meaningful connection with something – whether it's nature, family, a partner, work or a complete stranger – you begin to believe in something larger than yourself. Shifting your attention from (un)civilisation to the beauty of the natural world makes you feel more fully alive; it also means that you begin to acknowledge your place in the world, to see the sense of it all. Developing any kind of real passion and authentic purpose will do the trick, too. Go where you're needed: volunteer for a homeless shelter or a political organisation. No one has really said it better since William Shakespeare wrote, 'The quality of mercy is not strained; it is twice blessed; it blesseth him that gives and him that takes.'
In other words, if you give to another person and help enrich their life in some way, you are also giving yourself the opportunity to grow and to connect with the world in a meaningful way. Help something to grow, whether it's a child, an animal or a tree. Have real conversations with real people, not machines, wherever you can. Be a person who lifts people up, not someone who brings them down.
Consider the small, tenacious cluster of leaves that somehow manages to grow out of rusty guttering on a building in the middle of the city, or the tender, apple-green spikes that stubbornly poke out of the charred earth hours after a fire has destroyed everything in its path. No matter how stressed your day is, or how difficult it is to see a way forward, you can find solace, inspiration and courage in Nature's resilience and determination.
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1. Find inner balance by spending more time in a green environment
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