They work,but only partly. That too in closed rooms. You are hardly likely to stay in the same room throughout your life.
First Anniversary mocktail mommies celebration contest
Plants help improve emotional health
Plants also makes me feel good .All the time every time.
This thing is so bang on, that my hubby suggested we plant trees inside our flat .
He said it as a joke .But I took up the challenge. Though I don’t have trees I do have roughly 80/90 plants in my balcony jungle.
Workout options
Nature is also great for your physical health.A nature walk ,gardening all helps you get a good cardiovascular workout .Plus it’s fun .No monotony.Research also found walking surrounded by nature is more beneficial, than on the treadmill .
Plants make unique home decor
A home full of green plants is pleasant to see .It lifts the interiors, from mundane to wow in no time.
They remove VOC ,and other impurities from indoor air and makes it clean for you.
Plants have the good biophilic bacteria in them .These act as Probiotics for your skin and hair .When you are among plants these good bacteria settle down on the exposed body parts .They are good for your skin’s health .
Plants increase creativity and caring
Being around selfless living beings in nature, helps me understand the truth about life.My writers block disappears when I gaze at my balcony jungle.My low moods lift with a bit of pottering in the garden.
I wake up with a smile when I see my window box full of flowers in the morning.
Why are you thankful for nature ?
Write with us and Link Up .Make it a green revolution.
This week our featured winner is Shalini.
Read her winning post.
Thankful Thursdays featured winner this week is Shalini of shalzmojo.in
Shalini is passionate about everything design.
In her own words…
I am in love with photography, travel and baking. My writing journey was initiated with my letter writing hobby as a child and has metamorphosed into serious blogging as an adult. I blog at shalzmojo.inand my blog, in a nutshell, is about Me. I write about my opinions & views on food, photography, travel, mindfulness, baking, books, movies and recently penned a few fictional tales too.
I indulge with reading fantasy fiction, day dreaming and sipping good wine.
Good or bad apparently it takes 21 days.So officially writing #Thankful Thursdays is a habit now.
Has it made me happier?
Absolutely.
Has it made me more thankful?
100%
Is it fun?
I am having a lot of fun, hosting this amazing thankfulness chain every week.I get to meet wonderful bloggers and read their stories.
When I wrote about keeping a gratitude journal ,I read several articles on practicing thankfulness. Some resources said write daily.Some said monthly .But most said write weekly .It makes it doable and useful.That’s what I discovered with this.
Writing weekly thankfulness post is like a breath of fresh air .
A pick me up in the middle of the week.
So what am I writing this week?
I am writing about 10 Things that makes me thankful to be human
#1
I am able to appreciate the finer things in life .Enjoying a comfortable bed ,great good, good book and beautiful people makes me thankful for this chance to appreciate.
#2
I am able to feel
Love and loss .Pain and joy.Happiness and sadness
#3
I am able to empathise .
Being happy for someone’s happiness .Feeling my child’s pain like my own.That’s the bittersweet part of being human.
#4
I am able to enjoy nature’s beauty
What would I do ,if I didn’t have my plant friends ?
They make me smile with their beauty ,grace and utter selflessness.
# 5
I am able to learn .
Learning new things everyday makes life a lot of fun.Would I be able to learn so many things ,if I wasn’t a human ?
#6
I am able to read books.
Is there any other greater joy ?Reading and reading even more .That’s something only humans do.Never heard a camel enjoy a book ,did you ?
#7
I am able to paint.
The creative arts are our way of expression. If I was a cat ,could I still paint?
Maybe. But would probably find it difficult to source paint and stuff.
# 8
I am able to atleast try to make this world a better place.
As a human being, if we all did our own work well ,things would be lot different.
Unlike animals .They can’t really do much for the world .
# 9
I am able to make friends.
Good friends are like great books and delicious chocolate rolled into one. Friends are truly the family we choose.
#10
I am able to say thank you to God for making me human being.
Yes that’s a very special “thank you”.
For the life you have given me For the opportunities you put in my path. For the challenges you bless me with.I thank you for all of them.
It’s because of my smiles as well as my tears ,that I am ,who I am today.
I have struggled with anxiety and bouts of lows for sometime.
Gardening, exercising,reading books ,Pinterest and Instagram have all played their part in helping me feel better.
Optimism and Health
But the most important thing was probably me practising thought control. Basically whenever I felt a situation or conversation was tending towards something which could make me sad .
I aggressively stopped myself from continuing that train of thought or words. Very difficult and often it makes you feel like two of you pulling at your brain.
But from my own struggles I can tell you, the only way to be mentally healthy is constantly practice positive thinking.
That’s when I came upon Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Happiness post .It was interesting how all these wonderful women focused on being happy. Life is short.It’s too short to live unhappily. A happy smile has a much deeper effect than you perceive.
Positivity and health
The mental and physical effects of positive thoughts and optimism are much more than just the obvious.
In an interesting research done by Barbara Fredrickson certain effects of positive thoughts have been described which will have a widespread effect on how we think about optimism. .
My Questions
So what makes us happy?
Is it possible to be happy all the time?
Does positive thoughts improve happiness?
Are happy people healthier?
How can we all Practice being happy?
Finding the answers to these questions were important to me as I was trying to decide the priorities in my life.
I started my favourite part of writing a post :Research. The best thing about researching health ; wealth and wisdom is that you always gain something.
My research discoveries …
What determines
Optimism?
Positive thoughts and general feelings of happiness have mainly two major influences: 1)Genes.Yes genetics have a hand in this too 2)Environment. How satisfied you are in your personal and professional space place a large role in making you happy and maintenance of this upbeat mood. So just like everything else your happiness quotient is also in your control. But what about genetics? Some families have tendency or genetic predisposition to certain disease. So does this mean they will all be suffering from that disease .Not necessarily. When people have tendency to be overweight and they eat uninhibited and don’t exercise then just blaming the genes will not work . External or phenotypic expression of your genes ,have a lot to do with environment. Controlled diet and exercise helps people stay physically healthy.
Similarly practising gratefulness and positivity helps you stay mentally healthy. You are not a slave to your genes. You are restricted only by the walls you have built yourself. Happiness is a learned habit,which you can develop yourself
Happiness Myths:
Refusing to be practical doesn’t make you happiest.
Happiness is also not something which is a one time stop,from which there’s no return. Overall happy mood has a lot to do with a balanced mood of general wellbeing rather than feeling euphoric.
I have seen even 30 min of walking or running ,everyday helps me keep blues away.
If possible walk in a park .Any activity that brings us close to nature activates the happy and positive part of your brain.
2)Enjoy every moment :Be mindful Mindfulness is the very first step.If you are concentrating on the task at hand ,it’s easier to banish negative thoughts.
I use Om chanting mindfulness meditation and gardening to help myself become more calm and content. 3 )Maintain a gratitude journal
[Tweet theme=”basic-white”]Grateful people are more positive and more likely to be happy :Robert Emmons[/Tweet]
To practice gratefulness is to live better.Sometimes it’s difficult ,but it’s those very times when you need to be more consciously grateful
GRATITUDE
4)Have Empathy 5)Do something that makes you happy everyday.
Read a good book ,garden, chatting with a friend,learn a new skill,paint (love adult colouring books),cuddle and spend time together as a family. 6)Catch up with a friend.
Optimism is a friend magnet.
Make new friends. Thank someone for some help. We are supposed to be the average of five people we spend the mist time with.
So be careful whether you are surrounded by optimists and doers or naysayers. 7)Help somebody. It might be something very small but it will make you feel good.
I have started answering health queries on Lybrate (a doctor -patient health portal). 8)Day Dream about something which you want. 9)Remember something good that happened to you.Memories! 10)Forgive somebody
So what are the health benefits of being an optimistic happy person?
1)Better cardiovascular fitness when compared to other age and gender matched population irrespective of genetics . 2)Much better immunity and healing power. Stress increases cortisol level in your blood which affects both your ,heart,moods and immunity.
Related:Optimism and Immunity 3)You enjoy better quality of life. 4)You sleep more soundly 5)You live better and longer.
The shortcut You can control what you think. Think positive You feel happier You are healthier.
