#8 Just One Houseplant Can Heal You
Social media is jammed with dreamy images of perfect people with perfect houseplant collections, but the truth is just one houseplant can heal you from the stresses of the day. There are a lot of myths in those images anyway, some of which I’ll write about in a future post. In the meantime, consider choosing and growing one wee houseplant to reap its destressing benefits. Which Houseplant is Best? Not too long ago, I wrote a post on the five easiest houseplants to grow. These are the low-maintenance, starter houseplants…
#7 How to Relax With a Saturday Morning Plant Ritual
If you like houseplants, you may have a particular day you like to care for them. I’ve found it’s easiest for me to relax with a morning plant ritual every Saturday. After I wake up, I eat a light breakfast and, if I’ve slept well, ride my exercise bike. Then, the real fun begins: I visit with my houseplants. Saturday mornings are my favorite time to tend plants because I’m not working and the weekend is still new. I get to look at greenery while enjoying the peace and hope…
#5 Frazzled? Look at These 3 Relaxing Plant Images
Yesterday, I talked about fractal patterns and how they can reduce stress. Today, I want to share a few of those relaxing plant images. We know from research that constantly switching our attention back and forth, which we usually do during stressful times, creates mental exhaustion. So if you can allow yourself to sit and gaze at a fractal pattern, you’ll refuel your brain’s tank. The hardest part is switching your attention away from the worrisome task at hand. And the more stressed you are, the harder it is. I…
#4 Why Is Looking at Nature So Helpful For You?
Looking at nature is so helpful for us because when we look at nature, we’re looking at fractal patterns. What are fractal patterns? Fractals are complex patterns that seem chaotic but actually repeat by simple processes. Scientists can measure them with mathematical equations. They occur all the time in our world: hurricanes, galaxies, tree branch patterns, river systems, etc. They’re a building of simple calculations that create a complex whole. Pretty cool, isn’t it? A Physicist’s Hunch Fractals also appear in the artwork of Jackson Pollock. You know those paintings…
#2 Biophilia: What’s at the Heart of Craving Life
I want to share one of the most powerful concepts I know of about the human relationship to plants: biophilia. Biologist and naturalist, Edward O. Wilson popularized the term in the 1980s. It states we have an innate desire to seek out and be with other life forms and living systems. We crave life on a gut level. As this amazing thinker who’s studied living organisms, especially ants, for many decades says, we distinguish “life from the inanimate and move toward it like moths to a porch light.” And since…
