The Mental Health Benefits of Spending Time in Nature: Why You’ll Love Being Outdoors and Feel How Good It Is for Your Mind and Body
Spending time in nature has been shown to have a range of mental health benefits, from reducing stress and anxiety to improving mood and cognitive function. In fact, research has found that just 20 minutes of outdoor exercise per week can lead to significant improvements in mental health and well-being. So, what is it about nature that makes it so good for our mental health? One theory is that being in nature helps to reduce the amount of stress hormones in the body, while increasing the production of feel-good chemicals like serotonin. Nature can also provide a sense of peace and tranquility, which can help to relax the mind and promote a sense of well-being. In addition to stress reduction, nature can also improve mood and self-esteem. Being in nature has been shown to increase feelings of happiness and contentment, as well as boost self-esteem and self-worth. One study found…
What happens when opportunity meets preparation?
We all know daily hard work is a key ingredient of success. But there is one more key component…
MONDAY MOTIVATION MINUTE- Remember to enjoy the memories! Or better yet, enjoy the moments!
I had a friend from college reach out to me not too long ago and we started talking about one of our backpacking trips to Cottonwood Lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. What a great trip and I was so happy he helped dig that memory out of my archives. After my conversation with him, it dawned on me that I hadn’t thought about that trip in a very long time and I wondered what other trips have slipped to the recesses of my mind. I spent a few minutes going through the memory catalog of my different trips and found there were quite a few I hadn’t thought about in a while. Some of these trips were amazing trips and some were noticeably more challenging but thinking back on them, I can say they were memorable! But if they were so memorable, why had I forgotten to remember them?…
MONDAY MOTIVATION MINUTE – Enjoy the Euphoria of Dancing in the Rain
What happens when you take the time to stand in the rain? Learn from our forests and experience the rain as they do!
MONDAY MOTIVATION MINUTE – Be Uncomfortable
Growth and development happen when you set a goal difficult enough where you have to work to accomplish it. If the goal is easy and you do not have to try to achieve it, it isn’t a goal. It’s a task. This goes for work-related goals, personal development goals, financial goals, weight loss goals, or any goal really. Setting goals that are outside of your comfort zone can be a bit scary or intimidating and you might have feelings of doubt or uncertainty. “What if I fail?” “What if I make a fool of myself?” “What if I find out I can’t?” But what if you succeed? The spoils of success are so much sweeter when you have had to scrape and scratch and claw your way through and over obstacles to reach your goal. In addition to the reward of achieving the goal, you will also have become a…
MONDAY MOTIVATION MINUTE – Navigating the perils of the black hole of grief.
The grief of losing someone can be like a black hole. You may find yourself circling it, coping with it during the waking hours. But as day fades into night, you will find yourself being pulled closer and closer to confronting the grief just as light is drawn to a black hole. Sometimes, the loss and grief it left are too great and you cannot keep it at bay; that is OK. Grieving is a process that takes time to work through and you cannot expect, nor do you want to, forgo that grief because that will minimize who that person was to you. But, as time helps you work through the process, you will find yourself coming out the other side and just as Sci-Fi has taught us, there is a whole new world on the other side of a black hole. What this new world is like without…
MONDAY MOTIVATION MINUTE – The equanimity of accepting the good and bad of life
Monday Motivational Minute is about understanding and accepting life and the peace that comes with that acceptance.
HAPPY FRIDAY – Time wasted doing what you truly love is not wasted time
Time…the most precious resource we have. That’s not a novel concept and we’ve all heard it uttered countless times. Most of us understand the meaning behind the phrase, but some still get caught up in the life-long habit of wasting it. Myself included! How do we break that habit and truly take the necessary steps to enjoy as many minutes of our life that we can? It’s actually easier than most think and you can start by claiming time one minute at a time. I have been on this personal transformation since I left a super stressful job about 2 years ago. This is a transformation that will continue as different factors contribute to my time requirements. But, as I transform, I am mindful of the sacrifice each change requires. This will forever be a give and take since we cannot obviously reclaim lost time nor create “new” time. So…
MONDAY MOTIVATION MINUTE – Be extremely careful of what you practice because you will undoubtedly become good at it!
When you want to get better at something, you practice. While it can be a hopeless endeavor to try for perfection, you can always strive to get better. There is a muscle memory that is developed through repetition. And repetition comes from practicing. I can remember standing in the gym shooting 100 free throws before practice and 100 free throws after practice. I wanted to be able to hit free throws when I’m cold right off the bench and when I was dead tired at the end of overtime. So I practiced. I wanted to hike the incredible peaks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and not be completely exhausted when I reached the summit, so I used to load up my backpack with weights and walk up and down my stairs to get ready for a backpacking trip. My muscles got stronger and my coordination better through repetition. The same…
MONDAY MOTIVATION MINUTE – All you have to do is just listen
It’s 2 am and I find myself staring across the room at the glowing blue numbers on the clock. I told myself I would sleep through the night but my circadian rhythms have me stirring while the rest of the house is snoozing. These are the times when my mind decides it can solve ALL my problems…or at least it can try! I know the routine so I climb out of bed and stumble my way out of the room. I don’t want to wake my wife who is sleeping peacefully next to the warm pillow I just left, so I am careful to step where I know I can avoid the creaks of an old house. As counterintuitive as it sounds, I make my ritualistic cup of coffee and settle in for my “creative time”. I take advantage of the brew time and sit down for a short meditation…