Nature is so diverse that saying “nature improves wellbeing” could be too vague. Maybe all nature has one common impact in that it is different, “other”, so it opens up new ways of looking at life and reconnects us with the elements. But in many ways one impact will be totally distinct from another. TimeContinue reading “Sea And Shore”
Tag Archives: Nature
Landscape Through The Lens
As lockdowns have reconnected many more people with nature and with its impact on wellbeing, so many are also looking to deepen that connection in new ways. These might be sports or wild swimming – or photography. I’m focusing here specifically on landscape photography, and another time hope to write about other kinds of natureContinue reading “Landscape Through The Lens”
Free To Connect
By opening people’s eyes to nature and the great outdoors, lockdown’s new perspective throws up questions about how and why people respond to nature so strongly and why it can have such a positive impact on our mental health. So it is no wonder that the theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week (10-16Continue reading “Free To Connect”
Nature’s Remedy
At last spring is here, and as I’ve just heard that April is National Stress Awareness Month, this seems an opportunity to highlight how nature can ease the stresses which have become so common in everyday life. No, nature won’t remove these stresses, but it might help rein them in or create a sense ofContinue reading “Nature’s Remedy”
One Year On
Last Tuesday’s national Day Of Reflection set me thinking again about this last crazy year and how I for one have seen positives emerge in amidst all the darkness. Positives like people turning to nature, to music and to creativity in their droves, painting, drawing and crafting. Sometimes this has helped distract us, liberated usContinue reading “One Year On”
The Sound Of Nature
Experiencing nature through sound might boost mood, calm us, excite or uplift us. Nature’s impact on wellbeing usually focuses on the sights we see, or on exercising outdoors. But there’s a wealth of sounds to draw on as well. Biophony (as sounds of the natural world are known) has become a tool for monitoring biodiversity,Continue reading “The Sound Of Nature”
Wild And Urban
For people and nature alike, towns and cities can be places of opportunity – or wastelands. Many people find urban living exciting and positive, while others find it overwhelming or depressing. And urban environments can be hostile to wildlife too, as light pollution confuses species as different as moths and migrating birds, street trees mayContinue reading “Wild And Urban”
Stepping Out
Any walk is a journey, or even a story with a beginning, a middle and an end: although it might not seem like that as you trudge through the wind and rain. Walking is linear. It has a start and end point. I wonder if this is why walking helps many people when life isContinue reading “Stepping Out”
Look And See
Remembering the famous carol ‘The holly and the ivy’ got me thinking about the importance of plants at all times: and how trying to see and notice might become a practicable, everyday way to boost wellbeing. In many woods (the setting for the carol), the holly and the ivy would stand out as the onlyContinue reading “Look And See”
Talking Of Trees
Planting a tree is an investment in the future, an act of hope. It also recognizes trees’ enormous impacts, not only on the natural environment and on ecosystems but on wellbeing. Of all features of the natural world, trees have maybe the most widely proven impact on our wellbeing: easing fear, anxiety and depression, connectingContinue reading “Talking Of Trees”
Medley 