Our gardens get us out of our heads.
Anxiety consumes time, mental and emotional resources. It eats what we need to live well. Repeating thoughts of fear and worry feed on themselves. For many, life in the 21st Century is uncertain, crowded, hard. In the face of these challenges, being active in the garden may seem like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. But evidence-based research has shown that gardens improve mental health.
Bending and moving, seeing in plants the resilience of life, tending to a bed. These acts can free us from the vortex of worry - if we are present in what we do.
To sustain a garden makes us live in the physical world. We escape our interior monologues. It gives us the space to find a fresh way to see the world around us. The difficulties we face may remain, but the practices learned in the garden show us how to weed through difficulties till what remains is fertile soil for better outcomes.
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