SUSSEX. PIC: BEN COLLINS
Scene 57 more pleasure in wildlife and nature, set up a tent in your garden! BBQ in the winter, I promise that’s crazy fun – might weird out ya neighbours but what the heck? Look forward because your time will come again when you can get out and about. But what should we be doing outside? Take mother, for example. She loves to be in the garden, which for her is like therapy. It gives her peace of mind and joy to cultivate and to weed, to plant seeds, to see something grow from these tiny little things. That’s the thing with seeds right, you can plant one and a million things can grow from just one little seedling. Our life can be like that, our minds are like that. If you cultivate your mind and you plant positive little seeds, amazing buds will bloom in your mind as well.
THE REAL LIFE COACH The Great Outdoors, by Sam Adams t @ThisIsSamAdams i @samadamscoach ) The thing about the outdoors is how good it is for us to be in nature, active, to just drink in this amazing space, this planet that we live on. I’ve always loved being outside. I grew up in the 1970s and ’80s when we were encouraged to get outside and only return for tea. I’d spend my holidays climbing trees, picking mushrooms and scrumpying for apples, building go-karts, playing games in the fields. Bittersweet memories. As a kid I didn’t understand how great Mother Nature and the outdoors were. It’s one of the things that I use to keep me grounded these days, to keep my mind in a good place by getting outdoors. A simple look up to the sky and I’m mesmerised by the vastness of it. The beach, my happy place. I sit, look out at the sea and I’m mesmerised again. The one thing about being by the sea and at the beach is that it calms me. Studies show that the beach can relieve stress – the waves and sun combined have a calming effect. It’s enough to make a person leave their stress behind. The sun, the sound of waves, and your feet in the sand can help to fight
off feelings of anxiety and stress. Don’t live near the beach? Fresh air, trees and just being outdoors are proven to have healing powers. It can improve your mood, boost your immune system, stimulate you mentally and physically. 2020 has been a weird year. We haven’t been able to get out as much as we would like or do the things that we wanted – walk, run, swim, canoe, travel to foreign lands to visit new buildings, people, and cultures. It’s been tough. But hold on – it will come to an end. Nothing lasts forever.
There’s just something wonderful about being outside. Even on the dark days when it’s raining and it’s overcast, the light is still brighter than being in your own home. And we need light, fresh air. We need to see different things to cultivate our minds, to change our thought patterns.
“Studies show that the beach can relieve stress – the waves and sun combined have a calming effect. It’s enough to make a person leave their stress behind”
Think about past adventures or outings. What was your greatest adventure? Your childhood memories of being outside? I remember camping in our back garden – who didn’t do that, hey? Simple pleasures and actually something you could do again, despite the pandemic!
If we get in a slump, if our mood drops, one of the best things we can do is take ourselves outside and just be in a field, the woods, by the sea, walk, cycle, run. It can remove mental drift and shift your mood up.
There is something magical about being outside. Have you ever just laid in a field or on the beach and looked up at the sky? Or at the stars – they can just light up your soul. I take comfort that it’s always there despite all else.
So while we’re in these challenging times and can’t be outside as much, savour the opportunities when you can and just look for the little things around you, the things that we probably take for granted – the greenery, wildlife, the trees.
We take our holidays and adventures as a given, so now it’s time to appreciate the little things that we take for granted. Take BRIGHTON. PIC: DARREN COLES
A friend who lives abroad is currently posting loads of pics of greenery as they have had a lot of rain, which is not normal so they are absolutely loving it because they don’t usually see it, yet we take it for granted. Maybe don’t take it for granted today, go out and look at it anew with fresh eyes Abundance is everywhere. But you have to be willing to look. Everything is temporary, everything changes. While right now the great outdoors is limited, savour those moments when you do get there. It’s good to have something to look forward to. Even if you don’t know the date that you’re going to do it. Plan and think about your next trip, research it, find something to get excited about. I have decided I’m going to climb Kilimanjaro, so have started researching and looking into that. My biggest adventure is yet to come… It starts with you.
