This is the eighth article in my series about Managing How You Feel, looking to give you many options for influencing your emotional state, through things you can do that change your physical state or your mental representations, or the way you make meaning from the information you take in.
Tip No 8 - Connect with nature
This week I offer another simple, instinctive approach. Connect with nature. Humans are animals, we have evolved over millenia into the conscious beings we are today, and we have much in common with the animal kingdom of which we are a part.
Connecting with nature has a calming effect, it somehow feels like home. There are many different ways to connect, and we each need to find our own. Here are some options you might try:
a. Take a walk out in nature, and notice your environment with all your senses as you move
b. Spend time gardening, clearing weeds, planting flora you like and tending to it
c. Spend time stroking or grooming an animal. Notice what they most enjoy, and the sensations for you as you touch them.
These are just three suggestions amongst many, many ways to connect. Whether its star gazing, surfing, outdoor swimming or bird-watching, the important ingredient is noticing what you sense as you do it. Take in what you see, notice the sounds, savour the smells and be alive to the sensations. The more you can engage your senses, the more grounding the experience will be.
For more support in influencing your way of being, get in touch.
Tips so far in this series:
1. Change where you are looking (up to lessen intensity, down to increase it)
2. Move
3. Use your breathing
4. Pay attention to what you sense right now (what you can see, hear, feel, smell and taste)
5. Recall a memory when you had the emotional state you want now
6. Ask yourself what would someone you trust/admire say?
7. Count 3 Gratitudes each day