Let nature to be your guide and support in your mental wellbeing

LET nature to be your guide and support in your mental wellbeing

These are challenging times for many of us. Off the back of a lengthly pandemic, lockdowns and financial pressure with rising interest rates and cost of living, it is no wonder why so many of us all feeling the peaks of stress and anxiety.

So how do we find our balance again with a sense of certainty in an uncertain world?

If you are currently living your everyday in heightened stress, please know there are ways forward to aliviate the burden. Your health matters most above all else, because we know that without our health and wellbeing we can not live, function and experience life, family, and work sustainably.

At Shine Mind Body Spirit, we focus on a holistic approach to general wellbeing. Through the process of informing, inspiring and empowering our clients to implement new strategies in their everyday lives that will enhance their overall experiences, this proves to have a positive impact on their general wellbeing mentally, physically and emotionally.

Connect with nature

You are nature and nature surrounds you.

There are important differences that exist among emotional well-being, mental health, and mental illness.

Emotional Well-being is defined as having both an awareness of your emotions and the ability to manage and express those feelings in a healthy and age-appropriate manner. It includes having both good mental and physical health, high life satisfaction, and a sense of meaning. More generally, well-being is just feeling good about yourself and your life.

Mental Health is made up of our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. It can be negatively impacted by such things as living in a difficult relationship, struggling with aging parents, or poor work/life balance.

Mental Illnesses are specific, diagnosable health conditions involving changes in emotion, thinking, or behavior (or a combination of the three). Mental illnesses are associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work, or family activities. They are medical diagnoses that have behavioral components like any medical condition such as heart disease or diabetes.

Understanding the differences among the three terms can go a long way to helping ensure that you have support in place.

What is mental wellbeing?

It’s time to explore the relationship between wellbeing and mental health.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) describe mental health as an integral and essential component of health more broadly, defining it as:

“A state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.”

“If you experience low mental wellbeing over a long period of time, you are more likely to develop a mental health problem”

Good mental wellbeing doesn't mean you're always happy or unaffected by your experiences. But poor mental wellbeing can make it more difficult to cope with daily life.

If you're under a lot of pressure, you may start to feel overwhelmed or out of control. Stress can also cause physical side effects.

Mindfulness is a way of paying attention to the present moment, using techniques like meditation, breathing exercises and yoga. It's been shown to help people become more aware of their thoughts and feelings. This means that instead of being overwhelmed by your feelings, it becomes easier to manage them.

Tips for improving your mental wellbeing

There are lots of things we can do to take care of our wellbeing.

Spend time in nature

Spending time in nature outdoors can help improve your mood and reduce feelings of stress and anger. Spending time in green space or bringing nature into your everyday life can benefit both your mental and physical wellbeing. For example, doing things like growing food or flowers, exercising outdoors or being around animals can have lots of positive effects.

Spending time in nature has been found to help with mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. This might be due to combining regular physical activity and social contact with being outside in nature.

Being outside in natural light can be helpful if you experience seasonal affective disorder (SAD) a type of depression that affects people during particular seasons or times of year.

We all have different experiences of nature, and different reasons for wanting to connect with it more. You might find you get something completely different from one activity compared to someone else.

Bring nature indoors

This can give you the benefits of nature without having to go to a park or public garden. You could buy flowers, potted plants or seeds for growing on your window sill. Or you could collect natural materials from outdoors, such as leaves, flowers, feathers, and use them to decorate your living space.

The benefits of natural plants indoors are numerous.

Connecting with nature in all seasons.

Spend time with animals

Lots of people find that being with animals is calming and enjoyable. You could try pet-sitting or dog walking, feed birds from your window, or visit a local community farm.

Try a mindfulness exercise in nature

Pay attention to your surroundings and find things to see, hear, taste, smell and touch. Awaken your senses by concentrating on one sense at a time, really focussing on that one experience from your outer world into your inner world, your mind.

Connect with others

Connecting with others can help us have a greater sense of belonging and reduce feelings of loneliness.

Connection is a vital need

One of the 6 core needs vital to our wellbeing is healthy connections with others.

Talk to someone you trust

Opening up to a trusted friend or family member can help you feel listened to and supported. Sometimes, just acknowledging your feelings by saying them out loud can also help.

How can Shine help you

Shine holistic wellbeing programs are designed to build and develop positive relationships to self, community and nature.

Our programs and its health and wellbeing focused content is designed to engage participants in fun, reflective, practical and creative learning experiences in a highly supportive and nurtured environment.

Shine is all about holistic health and well-being education that empowers you to be an active participant in your own health experiences. To value your health as part of a lifestyle approach is the keystone to improving health outcomes both for the you personally and collectively within your community.

We invite you to invest in your wellbeing.