Tag: connections

  • Connect with nature this March

    Connect with nature this March

    Connect with nature this March

    Embrace the season and find joy

    Ask anyone what their least favorite month is and chances are March will be high on the list. Depending on what the weather throws at us, it can be more bleak than blossom, our doors still shut though we’re itching to bust them wide open. If winter feels like an annual rite of passage, then March is the final leg of it.

    Connect with nature

    How, then, do we make peace with this month? Regular connection with the natural world is one powerful strategy.

    Registered psychologist Sam Kriviak advises looking to nature as a model for being gentle with ourselves and the seasonal changes we experience in mood, energy, and productivity. “All species ebb and flow with the seasons in northern climates. The more connected we can be to nature, I think, the more we notice that our March will likely look and feel very different from our July or our October … and that’s okay!”

    Participants in a large UK study committed to some form of nature-based activity every day for a month. The result was an increase in nature connectedness, health, happiness, and conservation behaviors that lasted well past the 30 days. Spending time in nature can help foster physical health, and may even help to support our immune systems!

    Here are a few ways to foster connection in nature this season.

    Be attentive

    Simply locating ourselves in relation to Earth’s cycles can help us appreciate this time of year in a new light. Longstanding practices in your region, such as tapping of sugar maples or migratory bird counts, offer clues to the seasonal shifts happening around you.

    Do your own ancestral traditions offer a way to recognize this transitional month? And don’t forget to mark the spring equinox, either contemplatively or through a shared celebration such as a potluck, campfire, or walk with friends.

    Engage in comfort

    Direct contact with nature can be had even from a comfortable place indoors. Whether you’re eating, napping, or getting a little work done, position yourself where sunbeams are entering your home and soak them up.

    Get out there

    Nothing can perk us up quite like getting outside and imbibing the medicine of the natural world through our senses. Perhaps stroll at your kids’ pace, using an app to identify birds by their song or guessing which tree or plant you’re looking at based solely on its bark or dried seed heads.

    Use your head

    Even when the weather truly relegates us to the indoors, nature can work its magic through our imaginations. Children might enjoy drawing what all the underground life is up to this time of year: roots, worms, and microbes still slumbering or beginning to stir and wake.

    Get a jump on spring

    It’s the ideal time to begin many plants indoors, giving them a head start on the growing season. Planting seeds is an inherently optimistic act.

    By Jackie Skrypnek

    Article Courtesy of Alive Magazine

  • Nurture meaningful connections

    Nurture meaningful connections

    Nurture meaningful connections

    Find the way back to relationships

    Although the beginning of the pandemic may feel like a lifetime ago, the lessons we learned from that time are important to remember—namely the significance of collective resilience. Above all else, we acquired a deeper appreciation for nurturing connections, upholding the belief that being socially connected keeps us safer, healthier, and happier.

    Individual impacts

    There’s no doubt the pandemic made many of us a bit jumpy. Although we suffered collectively, the effects on various population groups have differed.

    “It’s important to acknowledge that people’s experiences of the pandemic had a lot to do with their life situation and the resources they had available to them, including the basics,” says David Gomes, life coach and mindfulness teacher. In general, women and parents experienced a heavier burden.

    Generation “this versus that”

    Like it or hate it, referring to different generations as X (born in the ’60s and ’70s), Y (millennials born in the ’80s and ’90s), and Z (post-millennials, born in 2000 and after) makes it easier to understand the impact of the global phenomenon that shook us all.

    Being able to navigate through the digital world with ease came in handy for the Y and Z generations, but it was hardly enough to make up for the loss of in-person socializing. Life milestones, such as graduation ceremonies, weddings, and celebrations of life, were put on hold.

    “Young people, especially, found themselves challenged by the pandemic, because it came at a time when they were stepping out into the world, having to find jobs and a way forward, which is something their parents didn’t have to contend with,” says Gomes.

    Screens to the rescue?

    It’s complicated. We know extensive use of screens is detrimental to our well-being. It can get in the way of being present; it can affect our sleep and shred our focus, which affects work productivity. But throw in a pandemic, and we’re suddenly relying on screens for most of our human interactions—from work and family online chats to dating and exercising.

    “Humans have always gathered around in a circle to tell stories, to celebrate, and to be with each other; it’s in our DNA,” says Gomes. The screens, love them or hate them, provided a relief from solitude during a time when we needed it the most.

    Mindfulness tools

    Life is the sum of many changes, most of which we have no control over—and the recent pandemic is proof of that. “Many of us don’t like change, so we try to keep things stable,” says Gomes.

    Developing coping skills, such as becoming mindful of transitions, can help reduce the anxiety often associated with life events, pandemic included.

    “Life is an endless series of transitions,” says Gomes. “[The pandemic] reminded us of the sacredness of being able to be outside and connecting with our fellow humans.”

    By Daniela Ginta, MSc, NNCP

    Article Courtesy of Alive Magazine