What has nature ever done for me? You may ask. Nature provides us with our life support system, our food, water and the air we breathe. Yes even our industrialised farming still requires help from the environment. Bees to pollinate our crops, wasps, hover flies and ladybirds etc to eat unwanted insects. These are the most obvious to most people.
But what about the more subtle elements? The feeling of a glorious sun rise or sunset? The rainbow. Do you still look in childlike awe at the rainbow? Do you see if you can see both ends? Is there a crock of gold awaiting to be found? Think back at last time you saw a rainbow. Can you recall how you felt? Something a little harder. Can you remember how your body felt? Did that last question surprise you? Why? Did you feel butterflies in your tummy? A lightness in the chest? Or nothing? Nothing is ok! We aren’t trained or taught to pay attention to how our bodies feel. But we should. The expressions a gut feeling didn’t come from nowhere!
Nature and connections
We are deeply connected to nature and we need it. Did you know there is increasing evidence that hospital patients with a view out of window that includes a view of a garden or countryside get better quicker and have improved outcome?
Think about your needs when you have been feeling at a low ebb. Did you long to go to a park, enjoy a country walk or a trip to the beach? When you are feeling stressed or disconnected. Do you want to get away from the town and city into an area of green?
People often report improved feelings of wellbeing when they have regular connect with nature. Being in nature has also shown to lower blood pressure.
Let’s spend more time outdoors it’s good for us.
Talking the Walk
How does this help from a coaching point of view? How does it enable you to make that shift? Being more at ease with yourself and feeling well, enables us to take those challenging steps. Feeling well mentally enables us to be more creative in our problem solving. It gives us that extra capacity to take those risks that you thought were too big a step.
Have you ever thought about having a coaching session outside while walking? Great thinkers and artists such as Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzche, Aristotle and William Wordsworth where keen, if not obsessive about walking. They were at their most creative while on the hoof. When I am coaching I like to take my clients on a short walk. It reduces the pressure of being sat opposite someone, either in the real or in Zoom world. This is especially true for guys. The act of walking alongside will help you to open up not yourself and your coach. You share more, seeing the bigger picture literally expands your capacity for creative thoughts. Look at nature and all of her resilience, the tree that has been blown over in a storm doesn’t just give up! If some roots are still in the earth the side branches will sprout towards the sky.
Attention
When you walk little attention is paid to the physicality of walking. The mechanics of putting one foot in front of the other is automatic. You free our mind and thus allow your thoughts to wander, overlaying thoughts on thoughts in the theatre of your mind. This special mental state has been shown to all people to produce more innovative ideas and have insights that would escape if sat at a desk or table.
Embrace nature and her majesty, stretch your legs and creativity by going on an adventure walking in nature’s bosom. Make your experiences real by journaling what you felt as you walk in nature.
References
hospital patients with a view:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nature-that-nurtures/
Contact with nature:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-44097-3
Nature lowers blood pressure:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180706102842.htm#:~:text=%22People%20living%20closer%20to%20nature,a%20physiological%20marker%20of%20stress.
