Plant a promise, make a wish…
With the focus this week being on mental health and wellbeing, I wanted to share a little about my journey and love of gardening and why I feel gardening can benefit the mental wellbeing of us all.
Many moons ago, I trained as an occupational therapist. If you have not come into contact with occupational therapy before, the profession uses activity and more importantly meaningful activity to help people recover from illness or injury.
For about 8 years, I worked in the NHS, predominately with people in mental health recovery. I used gardening almost every day in my work.
Over and over, I witnessed the health benefits of being involved in gardening activities. I decided to specialise and trained in Social and Therapeutic Horticultural and have worked with people and gardening ever since. I have worked with loads of schools and community groups over the years to support people to learn how to grow their own food and reconnect with nature to improve their physical and mental health.
Both passive and active involvement in gardening are beneficial!
Just sitting outdoors, being present, listening to the sounds around you, looking closely and observing the plants and insects, can really rest the mind. Join us on Big Local Gateshead’s Facebook page on Friday at 8pm to watch a video on how to ground yourself with the 5 senses. Next time you find yourself sitting outdoors take a few moments to put the techniques in the video into practice.
Being active doesn’t have to mean digging over your whole garden. Just sowing seeds and nurturing the small plants can benefit the mind and body. If you nurture a plant, respond to its needs and it grows well, it can be really rewarding. This process demonstrates clearly the parallel with how we can look after and nurture ourselves. If we nurture ourselves, we grow!
In the city, we are generally surrounded by buildings and concrete. Having the opportunity to connect with nature, to feel the soil between our fingers, reignites a natural instinct that restores and feeds us from within. Gardening has been shown many times over, to reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress. It enables us to connect with the world around us and to be present in the moment. You can watch a video tonight at 8.30pm, on Big Local Gateshead’s Facebook page which looks at ways of controlling and managing anxiety. See if you can use any of the techniques suggested, next time you are gardening or outdoors.
Plant a promise, make a wish!
Our lives before lock down were often busy and fast paced with little time for really looking after ourselves. During lock down, mental health and how we look after ourselves is being talked about, thankfully, more and more. Isolation and loneliness, not being able to switch off and sleep, missing friends and family, missing hugs, changes to our routines, worries about finances and work, not knowing when things will return to normal, and what that new normal will actually look like…the list goes on! It is more important than ever, that we are kind to ourselves at this time.
Now, with life on pause, we actually have a unique opportunity. We have time. Time to reassess what is important to us, to take care of ourselves and to make lasting changes in our lives.
One of our new veg grow kits (indoor kit pictured) with everything you need to start planting a whole range of plants at home. You can find out more about the kits and order one here, and we’ll deliver it to your door!
The challenge we have for you this week is simple:
Plant a promise:
Is there something you have been doing that is new, during lock down? Maybe you’ve made more of an effort to keep in touch with people, maybe you’ve tried a new hobby or been reading or exercising more. Think about one thing that you have been doing differently, that you would like to keep doing. This is your promise to yourself. Next, sow a seed or plant something and as you nurture your plant, also nurture the promise you’ve made to yourself.
Make a wish:
Now think about something new that you will do regularly, over the coming weeks, which will help you feel, for example, more happy or relaxed. This is your wish…
Please share your promises and wishes with us: either by email or Facebook post. We would love to create something long-lasting with our combined ideas. Maybe your promise or wish could also give inspiration and motivation to someone else!