May is Mental Health Awareness Month and while mental and emotional health are important all year, this does give us a chance to focus our energy on taking care of ourselves, others, and our communities. At MBGNA, we are keenly aware of and committed to promoting how our relationship with nature can enrich and enhance our health and well-being.
A large body of research consistently shows that spending time in nature and our connection to nature produces increases in many areas of our well-being, including our physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social health.
To add to the research, during this past year, we have been engaged in a wonderful initiative at MBGNA in which we have learned so much from people who engage with our spaces at the Botanical Gardens and the Arboretum. People have contributed hundreds of anonymous responses to journals in which they have written about how they experience nature. Many of these reflections reveal the depth and richness of those experiences. The main themes of the entries include nature being a multi-dimensional source of:
- Calm, Peace, Stillness
- Healing, Restoration, and Renewal
- Connecting to Something Bigger in our Lives, Spirituality
- Wonder, Awe, Beauty
- Escape from the Overstimulation in Our Lives; Taking a Break
- Creativity and Inspiration
- Resilience, Growth, Hope
- Connection - to Self, Others, Nature, Beauty
- Gratitude - for what Nature Gives Us and Those who Take Care of the Landscapes
The above themes are great in and of themselves, but let’s take the next step toward connecting them to mental health. A natural extension of these themes in our lives is that they strengthen and bolster what are sometimes called “protective assets” for our mental health; these include:
- Resilience
- Coping Skills
- Stress Management
- Healthy Relationships
- Emotional Regulation
- Better sleep
- Connectedness
- Self Care
- Adaptability
- Having a Sense of Meaning and Purpose
- Self-knowledge/Self-awareness
- Cognitive Flexibility
It is important to note that all of us experience these occurrences in our own ways and across multiple contexts, and that there is not one way or any “right way” to get to these outcomes. However, they all point to the fact that nature is a source of well-being, and therefore we can use this knowledge to “prescribe” to ourselves (in a way that is tailored to each of us) to sustain and enhance well-being outcomes. Nature is more than the beauty of the trees, plants, and flowers; it’s more than the trails and rivers; it’s more than the sounds of the outside; it’s more than a place for physical exercise. It’s actually a really effective and accessible source of healthcare!
So, throughout the year, and especially in May in this active growing season and Mental Health Awareness Month, we at MBGNA invite all of us to experience the beauty of the landscapes at the Botanical Gardens, the Arboretum, and other landscapes in our lives, and in so doing we invite you to focus on your own well-being and see our sites as places for nurturing your well-being in a way that is meaningful for you.
