Thriving with Nature – A Guide from the Mental Health Foundation in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund
When I was considering the focus for this week’s thought for the week and how the ongoing Covid situation is affecting everybody in different ways I came across the Mental Health Foundation web-site and a guide that they have created in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund. It’s full of useful information and suggestions about how we can improve our well-being by engaging with the natural world around us. Download the free guide here: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/thriving-with-nature/guide
The guide is aimed at helping us to connect with nature throughout the year regardless of how much time we have, where we live or how active or able-bodied we are. It’s really highlighting the impact that natural light and fresh air can have on our mood, mindset and sleep patterns; all of which have a beneficial affect on our health and well-being. Even ten minutes in nature a day can have a positive impact on our mood, how awesome is that?
This is also something that has been highlighted with the launch of the Duchess of Cambridge early years collaboration; exploring how we can promote optimum well-being in children through connecting with the outdoors. It’s so exciting that something that has no cost can have such a good outcome. It’s also great to see how many more people are taking advantage of parks and nature walks when we do get outside for our allowed exercise time or when we need to go out for work or essential shopping; so if you’re not yet one of those people, surely it’s worth taking a coffee break to have a read of the guide and explore how nature can help you to feel more connected and content in spite of our current restricted lifestyles?
There are lots of ideas for different ways of connecting with the natural world wherever you live, city, town or rural area. It’s certainly not just about doing Tai Chi in the park or taking long hikes through the countryside or mountains. The authors are just as keen to help us engage with the butterflies, birds and squirrels in our garden or local park or the plants that we are growing on our windowsill so there really is something for everyone in the guide. I hope that you find some of it useful for you.
As always if you’d like to talk to a chaplain you are very welcome to call or text me directly on my mobile: 07526 378529. Alternatively you can email info@mite.org.uk and request a call back.
For more information on supporting wellbeing, we have a range of resources on our web-site including some that are more specific to the Covid-19 outbreak and some that help in dealing with stress in general: https://mite.org.uk/quietspace and you can find other resources on Mental Health Matters and in this TED talk How to be kinder to yourself amongst many other online offerings that will come up in any Google search.
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