Connect with Nature
What is National Day of Unplugging?
National Day of Unplugging, (sundown-to-sundown) March 1st 2024.
National Day of Unplugging is an awareness campaign that promotes a 24-hour respite from technology annually observed the first weekend in March. National Day of Unplugging has been around for over a decade and is now a project of Unplug Collaborative, a non-profit, membership organization formed in February 2020.
I think it is good to have many breaks and unplug from technology. I grew up without social media & telephones.
We would ride many miles, on bikes and horses to socialize.
Today, we are connected to these things more than we connect to each other.
Between social networks and messaging apps, our lives seem to be absorbed by technology, but even with all that connectivity, we still feel disconnected.
When we connect with nature, the opposite happens.
Life feels different the more you disconnect from all that, and instead, travel and immerse yourself in the beauty of nature. Today, many peeps spend so little time outdoors that they are affected by what best-selling author, Richard Louv (Last Child in the Woods) has termed ‘Nature-Deficit Disorder’.
This is characterized by a reduced ability to focus, live in the moment, and appreciate the great beauty of nature. Recent scientific studies have shown that the great outdoors boosts mental health in so many ways.
One recent study by Cornell University researchers, for instance, showed that spending as little as 10 minutes in a green or nature-filled setting reduced the effects of physical and mental stress. Another study by University of Essex researchers found that nature reduces depression and boosts self-esteem.
Think of time spent away from your gadgets and in an outdoor setting as a quick way to recalibrate your brain and encourage you to take part in more physical activity – which in itself is an excellent stress buster.
Can you unplug from the screens for a couple of hours and reconnect with the world around you ?
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These are some of the benefits of unplugging and connecting with nature.
Gives You Clarity
The brain gets saturated from the constant exposure to technology, and that can make your mind feel cloudy. Breathing fresh air and being exposed to nature can calm your mind down, make you feel grounded, give you a new perspective on life making your problems seem trivial, and allow you to appreciate things more.
No phone Boosts Creativity
Noisy environments tend to block creativity. As you embark on an electronic-free trip, enjoy the quiet of nature and all that surrounds you, new ideas organically will start coming to you.
Spending time with yourself and your thoughts can help you get those fresh ideas you’re looking for.
Improves Your Mental and Physical Health
Disconnecting from social media and all that —at least for a few hours a week— while you enjoy the beauty of nature, can help calm your mind and your body, improve sleep —blue light from screens can mess with your sleep patterns— reduce stress, and even lower your blood pressure.
Makes You Feel Happy
Just taking a walk or jog in the outdoors can give you a sense of freedom and happiness. Connecting with nature revives your energy and makes you see life through a different lens.
As you plan your next adventure, consider leaving your phone behind so you can take it all in, free your mind and you’ll come back feeling like a new you.
EXPRESS gratitude for all the green that nature is bestowing on us!
Productive
Life began in a garden and gardening is life.
“I am more myself in a garden than anywhere else on earth.”
- Doug Greene
Gaze at the Moon up in the night sky, take a moment to honour our silvery sister that quietly, but powerfully influences our lives.
May a Happy Star always light your path.
Immune Support
Inspired by nature, the great and small organisms. Living all around us. The desire to connect and bring the wild into your gut.
Calm, healthy, creative people are more likely to resolve conflicts without violence, and much more capable of dedicating their energies towards peaceful, ecological living. So, grow, make & eat your fermented veggies!
Play
Why not break out the board games and have a good ‘ol fashioned game night?
Crank up the tunes & Have an 80’s dress up dance party / quiz night / write your own song / book
Talking Heads were a great band from the late-70s to mid-80s. Their lyrics were really evocative and mysterious.
Then I read an interview with the Talking Heads where they said that many of their lyrics were just random.
They would write evocative phrases onto little pieces of paper, then throw them into a bowl, and shuffle them up.
Then they’d pull them out, and put them into the song in that order.
Time To Be
A plethora of articles on mindfulness have been popping up lately, as the mindful revolution grabs media attention and extols its health benefits and virtues across the globe, simply speaking, we can’t discount the fact that anyone can practice mindfulness and meditation wherever they are.
There’s no doubt that a peaceful mind equates to a healthy gut, & healthy mind.
Mindfulness is escaping from our thoughts about the past and the future in order to concentrate, body and mind, on the moment.
It’s the exact opposite to what we normally do, going through our endless tasks, thinking about what we did or didn’t do, worrying about what is still to be done and intently focusing on our to do list and social media.
I have to keep reminding myself, not all days seem to be diamonds.
Indeed, some days definitely seem as heavy as stones!
It’s okay not to feel okay…….whilst knowing from somewhere deep inside we really are okay.
It’s okay to feel loss, pain, hurt or fear……whilst – at the same time – knowing deep within all is really okay.
It’s okay to have that duality that says ‘I’m not okay but I really am okay”.
It’s called being a human.
A human embracing their inner greatness.
A Sense Of Connection
Meeting friends and family in person is something that can be hard to do when you are working or chatting online, yet in many ways, doing so builds vital memories and connections, enhancing one’s sense of support and belonging.
Researchers from the University of North Carolina found that having strong social networks is as important as exercise and diet when it comes to measures of wellbeing such as abdominal obesity, inflammation, and high blood pressure.
The more social ties people have from an early age, they found, the better their health is at the beginning and end of their lives.
The best thing about unplugging is that it prompts people to find new ways to fill in free time.
Cook & Ferment Together with friends
Let’s build a healthier, happier world through the joy of food!
On the day you do disconnect from it all, ensure you make important social connections with the people you love.
Physical Activities
A wise woman once told me, “If you don’t make time for health and wellness now, you’ll have to make time for sickness and injury later”. Go for a swim, hike or a jog with the family dog. The good news is you don’t have to be particularly athletic to enjoy a leisurely stroll in the neighbourhood or a casual bike ride.
Everything in life has its positive and negative aspects.
Anything carried to the extreme would usually bring forth more negative than positive results.
This applies equally to the food we take, the hobbies we indulge in, the activities we focus upon, the desires we harbour in us, the thoughts we occupy ourselves with.
The use of ‘Facebook & Social Media’ is no different.
There is always the danger of us succumbing to the addiction of wanting more and more of wanting to use the ‘Facebook’. This survey finds that up to 85% of Facebook users log in daily.
Half of the survey group say they start up Facebook as soon as they open their web browsers.
Half fear that they are not ‘on top of things’ if they are not logged into the site, and 25% say they fill ‘ill at ease’ if they can’t log in regularly. The study states that the use of social networks activates the same ‘reward’ centres as sex, food and money .
Here is a simple six point scale that should help root out those who use the site healthily from those who are dangerously hooked.
The researchers were from the University of Bergen, Norway.
Many users spend time planning in advance what they are going to post on their page.
Occasionally doing this, for instance to try and encourage replies from business contacts, is fine.
But they are of the opinion that a constant need to do this could border on addiction.
The survey suggested Facebook addiction was more common among younger adults and women rather than men.
It also stated the addiction is more prevalent among those who are ‘anxious and socially insecure’ as they are often too introverted to speak in person but happy to maintain an online contact.
Take the test, it may help you realize how deep you have been sucked in by the social network. If this is such, then it time you do something about it, for no addiction is good.
PRACTICE KINDNESS ?
Random Acts of Kindness:
“Nothing can make our lives, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than perpetual kindness.”
–Tolstoy
One of my favourite resources is KindSpring.org. It is a place to practice small acts of kindness.
They have some wonderful ideas for kindness projects you can work on yourself or as a family.
The ideas range from simple to more complex, but all will help you see more good in the world while having a nice time away from social media!
Does anyone has any idea how to develop “perpetual kindness”?
The world is in dire need of it!
To be kind alone it already a difficult task, what more to maintain perpetual kindness!
It seems to me to be a daunting task.
Is it possible for us to be perpetually kind?
But Tolstoy was also a mortal, like us.
So how did he manage to maintain his perpetual kindness?
Was his kindness a feeling or was it an action?
How was he able to prevent the persistent, conflicting emotions derailing him from his path of perpetual kindness?
Would he have given us a pass, or would he have failed us if we were kind than unkind most of the time?
Tolstoy, a perpetual teacher that he was, was he telling us to be aware of our responsibility?
Was he teaching us values here?
Was he telling us to moderate our behaviour?
A master observer of human nature that he was, was he telling us that to be kind or unkind is a choice we can make?
To be kind to ourselves and to extend kindness to others.
“I charge you all that each one of you concentrate all the thoughts of your heart on love and unity.
When a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace.
A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love.’
Baha’u’llah
Remember when you Shine, the world shines brighter because of you!
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