Today’s forest bathing message:
You need to get out more.
It’s the message that’s been pressing on me for a few weeks now.
Now, I say this completely tongue in cheek because I should be the one to talk! I really don’t get out much at all. Haha.
I work from home and love being at home, so I don’t have a whole lot of reason to leave most days.
Except when it comes to nature exposure. (And pee-wee football practice;)
We spend a staggering 90 percent of our human lives indoors!
I mean, think about it…
You get in your car to drive to work and maybe spend 3 minutes outside on your way from the car to the building.
You maybe get outside for a quick 15-30 minute walk on your lunch break, if you force yourself.
You get 3 more minutes outside on your way back to your car.
You spend maybe an hour outside with the kids or doing yard work after work.
Even on weekends, you maybe spend up to 3 hours outdoors.
Then, in the winter, in colder climates, you may spend mere minutes outside.
{Source}
That statistic makes me want to run away to Ferngully!
Seriously, so alarming, especially when we consider how much we love being outside.
Being outside obviously doesn’t come natural to most of us.
It’s a habit we need to cultivate and learn to appreciate.
In order to free yourself from that statistic, you need to make a point to get out more!
So, this week, I tried that.
I was able to get outside for a run, rather than the treadmill, because my husband happened to be home for the kids.
And on my run, I noticed a few really cool things that really roused an emotional response in me:
- The doe and fawn that I startled from sleep, bounding off. Mom took graceful bounding leaps while baby humorously tried to keep up with her, three steps to mom’s one. It made me laugh.
- The myriad of monarchs in my neighborhood, including two that swooped down so close to my ear, I could hear their wings. The sound of monarch wings, you guys! Do you know what they sound like?
- The field of yellow wildflowers at the top of the hill I had never noticed before in all the times I’ve jogged that hill.
- The cicada making its electric buzzing noise across the pavement.
One measly half-hour gave me all these gifts!
And it made me think of all the crazy rare things I’ve seen out in the country since we started living here. Things I never saw in the city and never would’ve happened upon if I weren’t “getting out there.”
- The bald eagle that grabbed a fish right out of the water and took off with it. Seriously, I hadn’t seen an eagle in probably 10 years before moving out here. Now we see them regularly.
- The two bucks we saw, standing on their hind legs, fighting each other out in a field.
- The hawk hunting blackbirds in our backyard.
- The entire life cycle of a monarch from tiny white egg to breathtaking butterfly.
- The hilarious view, over the four-foot growth in the field, of just the mom, dad, and fuzzy baby sandhill crane’s heads. Another laugh-out-loud moment.
I could go on and on…
But I think you get the point.
The more you get out, the more you get to see. The more life you get to experience!
It just makes me think about all the beauty that’s out here for the taking. Right now!
It’s all around us.
But we can’t see it unless we open the curtains, swing open the door, and step outside.
Will you do that today?
Your invitation: get outside today one extra time and find a comfortable spot to observe. Just look around and notice what blessings you would’ve missed if you were inside.
I recorded a video with more of my thoughts on this, if you’d like to have a listen….
{If you’d like three free forest bathing invitations and a forest bathing starter guide to help you make more of your time in nature, click here to grab the PDFs}
Please share the lovely blessings you got to see while being outside today in the comments. I’d love to hear!