Have you ever thought what is actually our body? I imagine it as a microcosmos. As a small version of the Universe – the one we live in. I imagine the body as a small prototype of something much bigger. Isn’t it wonderful? To realize that everyone of us settles down with the whole Universe and that it is up to us what happens in it.
For me, the body of every person is a smaller reflection of the world outside of us. The cyclic nature that is inherent to nature, is the cyclic nature inherent to our own body.
Everyone of us spends countless hours, searching for information how to get in better shape, how to feel better. We look for the opinion of experts, who are supposed to validate the information, so we can accept its authenticity and usually we take decisions about what is good for us and our own body, based on other people’s opinion.
We live in a world of abundance, yet everyone of us lives with the feeling of some kind of scarcity – some have a deficit of health, others of happiness and third of resources.
Day after day we fill our pantries and fridges with superfoods and some new wonder foods of the health industry. In the same time, the contemporary person, suffers from one main deficit – the deficit of vitamin N. Have you heard of it?
It is abundant, yet we have a chronic deficit. It is healthy and useful for each one of our cells and it is like one of those magical drinks, which cure everything – from headache to a deep depression and lack of meaning.
We ignore vitamin N, on a daily basis, because the more civilization advances, the bigger becomes the precipice between people and this abundant resource of health.
Probably you are already asking what is that vitamin – well, vitamin N is… nature.
That’s right – nature is one of the missing pieces of the puzzle of everything we strive for – health, happiness, satisfaction, sense of wholeness.
Nature calms us down in an ancestral way – it is a deeper, inner feeling of belonging and community. We are connected with it and the more we distance ourselves from it, the bigger is the emptiness and the incompleteness we feel.
I can write a lot about the advantages of spending more time in nature, but in a couple points I will try to provoke your convictions and make you think deeper if by taking too much time for activities which are supposed to make you happy and successful, you are not turning your back to what, in reality, has the power to do it – in a moment. Without requiring anything from you, besides your presence.
1.The easiest source of energy is not food – it is nature
Have you noticed how great you feel, when you are in nature? Even the most stressful day, gets upside down under the influence of nature. It is really alive and we do not need to know how, but the body communicates with it – they exchange energy. Actually, we receive energy from nature.
You know how adults say how great it is to hug a tree, right? This is not a sign of insanity and you do not need to know exactly what happens, in order to feel the serenity and energy, that fill up your body and mind, when you hug a tree, when you sit on a stone or when you just sit in the grass.
In reality, we receive energy from Earth. It is our personal charger. In this post I wrote how technology takes away from our energy and how nature recharges us back. The more we use technologies in our daily life, the more we need to rely on nature, in order to recharge.
If you follow the work of Dr. Jack Kruse, you are probably familiar with his theory how gaining unwanted weight is an indication that your body is losing energy. And a big part of the energy that is being lost is due to our constant contact with technology and the lack of time in nature – we lose energy, but we do not recharge back. In this post you will read more on the topic.
The easiest way to feel better is to spend more time in nature.
Flowers and nature cure.
2.Life and our well being obey to a cyclic nature
No matter how much we ignore this fact, our body functions in synchronicity with nature. Every living organism, tunes in a diurnal manner – the length of sunlight and the changes in temperature.
Sunrise and sunset are not just amazing views, that stop time – they are an information for the body. The body and the environment are in a constant communication. Climate, the length of the day are just part of the languages, which the body deciphers and as a response some changes take place in the body, which prepare us for the upcoming season and the demands it will have on us.
Every process in the body is linked to light. Spending enough time under the sun, might be the factor that determines if we are healthy or not. Besides getting vitamin D from the sun, which is really important for good health and the absence of depression, sun winds up our biological clock and dictates what hormones are being released.
The artificial light that is a huge part of our daily life, “lies” and fools our body about what part of the day and the year is now. Thus, the body expects one thing and releases some particular hormones, yet they do not correspond to the real environment we live in.
The inability to sleep, leptin resistance and diabetes are just a part of the consequences of huge exposures to artificial light.
Taking the time to spend 5 minutes every morning, in order to stare at the sun, winds up our biological clock and tells our body what part of the day is, what hormones should be released and what it needs to prepare for.
That is why, you should start going out, every morning and stare at the sun – look at it for a couple minutes and you won’t only fill up with more positivism, but you will wind up your biological clock.
3.Invite nature at home: We are biophils – the love for nature is encoded in each one of our cells
Probably you have noticed the tendency in architecture and interior design – biophilia and biomimickry. This means, incorporating nature in the design of buildings and interior.
Every time, when we are in spaces with bigger windows, that kind of connect us to nature; in a room that has more plants and wooden motives; when the furniture resemble figures from nature – then we feel calm and cozy.
This is no coincidence – each one of our cells is hungry for a connection with nature and if we distance our body from it, then we feel inner emptiness and it is just a matter of time to invite illness.
That is why, a step towards feeling better is to invite nature at home or at the office.
My desk is positioned in front of 5 huge windows – thus, throughout the day, daylight comes through them and I do not need to stay exposed to artificial light.
Right in front of the windows, there are two huge trees, which make me feel as if I am in the woods.
My walls are covered in cork and I have plants in the room – this is constantly creating the feeling that I am surrounded by nature. It makes me feel cozy.
4.Nature teaches us how to live
We are a smaller version of the Universe and as such, we function in the same principles. By spending more time in nature, by getting to know it better, we get a deeper understanding about ourselves and life.
We get used to its cyclic nature and its unpredictability – we get used to the sunshine, followed by a pouring rain; we get used to the abundance of resources, followed by the scarcity, which is just preparing us for the next abundance.
Nature teaches us that there is nothing wrong with us and that being different is not a failure to fulfill yourself, and a success to keep your uniqueness safe – in nature it is full of a variety of living organisms and every one of them has its place and role.
Nature is one of the ways to restart ourselves. It is an opportunity to disconnect from the noise of the contemporary life and to get connected to our true sense – the moment when time stops and problems disappear.
Vitamin N is the vitamin that is present in abundance and most of us forget to take their daily dose. A vitamin that doesn’t cost money, but a vitamin that gives us everything.
Realize that nature is a part of every cell and that we function according to its principles. In order to understand our own self, we need to observe and understand nature.
