Touching Grass – for City People
We moved to big cities, but have our brains evolved fast enough to deal with all the stress that comes from living in these busy environments?
I mean, everything pulls our attention in 5 million different directions, from flashy advertising banners to public transport announcements and having hundreds of people all around us, all at the same time.
We're living in dense buildings, sharing space with other people.
I'm not saying it's bad: living in cities is fantastic (that’s why most cities are growing), and I'm also a city boy.
But going out in nature, and touching grass still has a fantastic impact on our mind.
You might say: "hey, but I live in the center of the city, how would I be able to reconnect with nature?"
But the thing is, it's possible, you just need to be conscious about it.
Here are a couple of examples of what can help and how to do it.
Visit Nearby Parks
Every city is designed in a way that in between a concrete jungle, you can find small oases of nature: these are called parks, and even the most dense city has many of them.
Try to make it a habit to visit these parks: sit on a bench, have a picnic, read a book, listen to the birds, and just try to disconnect.
It's perfectly okay to go on your own. You can even leave your phone behind, and try to be in an environment where preferably you don't see the buildings surrounding the park, only green, like trees, grass, flowers, and local animals.
Make Your Home Green
The second thing that you can do is surround yourself with plants at home.
I'm not saying to become a plant lady, but have a couple of plants that you take care of.
It's also good for your mental health to have a feeling of responsibility, even if it's only for taking care of a couple of succulents. Adding a touch of green to your life can transform your mental health and have a positive impact on it.
And it's decorative, so it will add to your interior aesthetics 😉
Focus With Nature
Try to incorporate listening to nature sounds into your focus work time. Birds chirping and crickets cricketing (I don't know the name of the sound crickets make 😅) also trigger those calming effects that were developed throughout the millennia of human evolution.
You will notice how your mind slows down instead of ticking and you can focus better.
I mean, no surprise that all meditation apps have these nature sounds as available options because they just work.
Go on Nature Walks in the Gym
The next one is a very unconventional tip: when you go to the gym to do some exercises - when you're on the cardio machine: go on a nature walk. Most of these machines have screens built in and almost all of them let you watch naturewalks.
So while you're doing your elliptical or you're on the treadmill, instead of watching Netflix, try to slow down your mind.
You can take a virtual excursion to the Yosemite National Park or the Australian Outback.
You can visit exotic places this way: you're walking, so you're doing good to your body and you're watching nature at the same time.
And I promise you it has this surprising relaxing effect on your mind.
Escape for the Weekend
And finally, even if you live in a city, that's no excuse to not escape from the concrete jungle for a weekend, or whenever time allows.
Just hop on a bus or get in your car and leave the city behind. Just one hour and you can be in untouched nature with lush forests or beautiful fields.
Escaping from the city even only for a day can recharge you. One day of looking at the distance, being surrounded by green, and not distracting your mind with information flooding from five trillion different sources: just one day can already have a massive impact on your mental well-being.
So yes, it's awesome to live in the city, but be smart about it and connect with nature. Because in the end, that's where we're all coming from.