why gardening is good for you | Cherie Roe Dirksen

“There is an unspoken communication between you and the natural kingdom.”

Lockdown Blues

Yep, we’ve probably all experienced the Groundhog Day phenomenon at some point this year. What comes with boredom, isolation, worry and stress is a copious amount of anxiety, right?

I’ve had my ups and downs during the whole COVID-19 experience.

What kept me sane was (and is) my garden.

Relief is Green

I can’t express enough how therapeutic being in the garden is. If you don’t have a garden, being in a park or in a forest or trail will boost those positive endorphins just as much.

Get out as often as you can.

Gardening Aprons $20

Here’s why:

Fresh air — especially mask-free fresh air. Go somewhere where you can safely breathe as nature intended (preferably where there are lots of oxygen making trees). Oxygen livens the cells in your body, giving you a vital boost.
Exercise — whether you’re gardening or walking in nature, you’re getting the blood flowing. Extremely important for combating depression or a growing couch-potato waistline! Healthy exercise also distracts you from cravings or snacking through boredom.
Well-Being — Communing with nature gives you a much greater sense of aliveness, grounding and vitality. If I’ve been chugging away behind a computer screen for a couple of hours and I go out into my garden for some respite, it only takes a couple of minutes before I feel my stress melting away. If you are working, make sure to take your lunch hour outdoors, even if you sit under a tree for 15 minutes.
Connectivity — when you garden and get your hands in the dirt, you are connecting with the earth, she feels you. There is an unspoken communication between you and the natural kingdom. I talk to the insects, the birds and my plants. You may think I’m crazy but it feels good to me and I feel connected to everything when I’m out there with grit underneath my fingernails. If you don’t have a garden, start a patio garden. If you don’t have a patio, start a windowsill garden. To grow is to believe in the future.
Problem Solving — I often find that when I’m in my garden, solutions arrive as quick as you can blink. Whenever I feel challenged about something, I turn to my garden, or a walk in the countryside. There’s nothing better to clear your mind and let in all the helpful ideas.
Inspiration — then there’s the motivational factor. I don’t have enough hours in the day to get out all the creativity I glean from being outdoors. There is a wealth of ingenuity out there to be plucked from the ether.

Speaking of which, it was a couple of months ago — when I was navel gazing and felt at a loss as to where my career was heading — that I stumbled upon the idea to get designing. Now, for those of you who don’t know me, I’m primarily a paint and canvas type of artist. I’ve not delved into the world of design fully and whole-heartedly, not yet anyway.

I felt now was my chance.

My Little Karoo Garden

My inspiration? You guessed it! My garden.

I’ve been having a ball walking through my garden, getting inspirations for designs. So much so that I even opened a store of my own, especially dedicated to my life in the garden. I’ve called it “My Little Karoo Garden“. It’s got a real ‘African’ edge to it 🙂 Dung beetles et al!

I hope this bloggy blurb has inspired you to get outdoors more often and to even get planting! Gardeners always have something to look forward to. I’d really like to hear your gardening stories — how does being in nature inspire you?

If you want to take a stroll through my store, click the logo to your right 🙂 I’d love to know what you think. It’s still in the beta stage but I’ll be adding new designs as they flow in.

Don’t forget to hit the follow button in the sidebar!

Other articles you may enjoy:

gardening-zen

It’s Time to Go Green!

Are you a gardener?
Do you like to be in nature?
Did you know it can be one of the most beneficial things you can do?

I was never really into gardening until we bought our first home. The garden (all 900m² of it!) was a bit of a wreck and there was (and is) much to be done.

“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul.” — Alfred Austin

Two years down the line, hubby and I are still landscaping, planting and enjoying our time outdoors.

Instead of slipping into complete overwhelm at the task ahead, I took my father-in-laws advice and began small — doing one square meter at a time. Eating that elephant one bite at a time really worked and the benefits of seeing my garden now — in all it’s glory — are astounding!

6 Reasons to Get Your Shovel On

Not only does gardening give you a sense of:

accomplishment
joy
peace

But it also has several even more outstanding qualities in this helter skelter, fast-paced life we find ourselves fumbling in. Here are some of the main benefits:

Creativity — you get to flex that creative muscle. You get to build garden beds and choose the right colors/plants for it. You get to plan and build water-features, walls, create bird-baths, pathways, stepping stones and a host of other fun things. I’ve started doing recycled garden projects too — you can find some great and easy ideas on Pinterest.
Meditation — gardening is a great form of meditation — you don’t have to don a lotus position to meditate! Meditation can come in the form of weeding (weeding is like cleaning out your house/cupboards/garage — you get a great sense of relief as you declutter that lawn or veg patch), raking and pretty much any monotonous, mind-clearing garden activity. When you’re done clearing the yard — you can make a good, old-fashioned bonfire to burn the debris. There’s nothing more therapeutic than to have a cleansing, trans-inducing fire and watch those flames licking away at they sky. Why not write some new intentions/goals down on paper and offer them to the flames?
Grounding — if and when you can, try garden barefoot or take your shoes off for a minute or two and stand on the grass. You connect with Mother Earth and it’s a great grounding exercise. Read more about grounding and its importance here: 8 Methods of Grounding and Connecting to the Earth’s Frequencies
Exercise — gardening is an absolutely fantastic fitness activity. Heavy yard work (landscaping, moving rocks, hauling dirt) burns about 400-600 calories per hour. Raking and bagging leaves incinerates 350-450 calories per hour. General gardening like pulling weeds, planting flowers, etc. sears 200-400 calories per hour and mowing the lawn: 250-350 calories per hour. Not bad, eh?
Zenning Out — when you’ve finished up your gardening and you relax in a deck chair with a cup of tea, there is a tremendous sense of ‘zen’ that washes over as you look out on your landscaping canvas of creation. You get to know all the creepy crawlies and birds in your space which gives you a real feeling of being in touch with nature and your surrounds. It get’s your heart chakra all riled up and pumping. Read related article: How to Use Your Heart Wisdom.
Nourishment — gardening will not only nourish your soul, boost your vitamin D levels (if you’re lucky enough to have a bit of sun) and sense of well-being but can nourish your body too if you start a veg/fruit patch and/or a herb garden. There’s nothing better or more worth your time and effort than to start growing your own food. Revolution starts with everyone becoming self-sufficient in some form or another.

Don’t have a garden?

Start window box/balcony gardening. Here’s a great way to get you going — READ HERE and HERE. Or why not start a community garden? Go speak to your local representative and start your gardening revolution today!

You can even make use of your friends garden — they’ll love it if you come over and weed their garden! I’m forever inviting my friends to come and weed (haven’t had a taker yet though…don’t know why :/).

Cherie Roe Dirksen is a self-empowerment author, multi-media artist and musician from South Africa.

To date, she has published 3 self-help and motivational books and brings out weekly inspirational blogs at her site www.cherieroedirksen.com. Get stuck into finding your passion, purpose and joy by downloading some of those books gratis when you click HERE.

Her ambition is to help you to connect with your innate gift of creativity and living the life you came here to experience by taking responsibility for your actions and becoming the co-creator of your reality. You can follow Cherie on Facebook (The Art of Empowerment — for article updates). She also has just recently launched her official art Facebook page (Cherie Roe Dirksen – for new art updates).

Cherie posts a new article on CLN every Thursday. To view her articles, click HERE.

This article (Gardening Your Way to Zen) was originally written for and published by Conscious Life News and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author Cherie Roe Dirksen and ConsciousLifeNews.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this Copyright/Creative Commons statement.