Sense of Control and Responsibility
As human beings, we all love to plan our schedules or to put everything around us in order. Psychologically speaking, it is natural for most of us to see our stuff well-arranged or our room organized. This satisfaction can also be derived from gardening. Gardening enables you to practice and develop your skills in planting, therefore, allowing you to have a sense of control and responsibility over things. It is obvious that growing plants gives us responsibility. And responsibility, such as planting and caring for plants, can provide us a good sense of purpose and worth within the society we are living that’s why it is very beneficial to us.
Being “In the Now” with the Natural World
Another positive thing about gardening is that it allows us to live in the moment. Sometimes, we get so affected by our thoughts, by our thoughts of our past, thoughts of our future, worries, uncertainties, and other kinds of stressors we encounter every day that’s why many of us suffer from anxiety, depression, etc. And gardening keeps us connected with the soil, with the plants, with the season, with the weather, and to the cycle of nature in general which makes us in-tuned in the “now” or the miraculous current moment along with insects, bees, birds, butterflies, and other tiny creatures living in the garden, sharing the natural resources with us. This is very helpful to our well-being.
A Place for Healing Expressions
Not only that you can create beautiful artworks or get inspired to write a song in a garden, you can also channel your emotions in the garden by doing various gardening tasks that help you express your feelings such as weeding, chopping, hacking, hammering, digging, etc. These things allows you to release heavy emotions or vent out your anger and your frustrations that’s why gardening can really contribute a lot to our mental stability as it can serve as an outlet for our inner pains and dissatisfactions.
A Therapeutic Exercise
Our body needs at least 3 to 4 hours of physical movement every day. This is very important for us to burn calories on our body and keep us physically able to do various tasks. In addition, exercise releases endorphins, the hormone that makes us feel satisfied, relaxed, or happy. This is an essential component for our brain to remain healthy, stable, and resilient. So exercising through gardening every day or at least three times a week contributes positively to our mental aspect. If we do gardening, which is a physical activity, and we had enough of it, this allows us to burn calories and also to enable or activate endorphins within our brain. Remember, do the exercises regularly to be able maintain its healthy impact to your mind and body.
A Diversion from Negative Stressors
Gardening activities are effective ways to divert one’s mind from overwhelming pressures of daily life. In this current society we are living which is seemingly being managed by mechanical sociopaths, we are constantly being distracted through different corporations and institutions that has vested interest upon us, always ready to take advantage and steal our time and energy. Feeling stuck and helpless from small problems in the house to unpaid bills to traffic, sometimes our lives can become more difficult and unbearable. However, gardening helps our mind focus on the tasks and on the natural things happening, therefore, retuning our thoughts into positive and more productive perspectives, and making it more attached to the healing mystery of existence.
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Featured Photo: gardenerspath.com/plants/vegetables/grow-onions/
