I don’t know about you, but some weekends I spend an enormous amount of time outside. We have a busy yard with a long To-Do list and hours worth of work. I used to lament the time we needed to mow, weed or plant Sweet Williams (ok, I never lamented the Sweet Williams part….) Get one week behind because the tractor breaks down? Uff, you practically need a machete to whack through the jungle grass!
I stopped lamenting this reality, (because, frankly I got bored of complaining) and decided to instead, up my gratitude game. I chose to be grateful for the yard and it’s life, AND for the work needed to keep it going. I know, if sounds weird, but go with it for a minute… The hours spent keeping up the gardens allows me opportunity to get my hands in the dirt (increasing my Earthing practice) and to be in the sunlight, which lifts my spirits.
We hear from commercials to health care professionals to lather ourselves with sunscreen to protect us from the ultra-violet rays. While those rays might do damage to our unprotected skin, the sun also offers a great number of benefits to lift our mood and heal our soul.
Receiving serotonin from sunlight boosts our feeling of well-being and (get this) helps us both be calm and focused! Win-win! A calm and focused being – just from getting our face in the sunshine for a few minutes. And, don’t forget Vitamin D!
Gratitude allowed me to stop and wonder what the benefits were to being outside. If gave me space to be curious about our amazing world. And, to realize once again, the importance of nature. This week, if you need a shift in your mood, step outside – if only for a few minutes. Put your face in the sun and breath in nature’s stress reliever. You’ll be glad you did.
With warm sunny thoughts,
Andrea
Andrea Tatley 