Life in nature

This month’s wellbeing theme is ‘life in nature’. We all understand that getting outdoors is good for all of us, children and adults alike, and we know our favourite green places to visit, either with our unit or with our family and friends. Caring about our world, our environment, and the realisation that our actions matter can be an eye-opener. With unprecedented challenges being faced by the whole world, caring about our immediate environment may be a way to manage our feelings and will certainly benefit our physical health as well as our mental health.

The Queen’s Green Canopy project to commemorate her Jubilee is a magnificent idea and we will be able to see in years to come the impact it will have for us all. See the website for more information:

https://queensgreencanopy.org/

You may be doing UMAs with your unit with the outdoors in mind. Or you may be planning residentials, now that we are able to access all those activity centres that were closed during the last two years. Are you doing something for yourself too to help make the most of being in nature? In Norfolk, there’s an urban project called Nature Connect offering connection with nature through allotment work, garden libraries, and bread kitchens among other things. Maybe your area has something similar? Even if you live in an urban area there are all sorts of outdoor workshops and classes that could inspire you across your life as a volunteer.

Check out this website where they list 7 good reasons to have an allotment courtesy of Gransnet:

https://www.thepeoplesfriend.co.uk/2018/04/20/all-about-allotments/

And as well as the benefit for those working and hanging out in the allotments, there’s the double benefit of how much nature gets from those areas set aside for allotments, especially when we avoid the use of pesticides and harmful chemicals.  Could you take your unit to a friendly local allotment plot for a meeting of discovery in nature? There’s so much to see and take in when we leave the house and get outdoors.

And a daily note from the March Mindfulness calendar as you head to work or your unit meeting: ‘Choose a different route today and see what you notice’ https://actionforhappiness.org/calendar