🌸 Nature At Work: 🌤️ Count Clouds, 🌌 Look at the Stars, 🐦 Go Bird Watching and More
🌸 Nature At Work: 🌤️ Count Clouds, 🌌 Look at the Stars, 🐦 Go Bird Watching and More
5 ways to bring Summer Camp's outdoor spirit to work culture
🏕️ This edition is part of The Switchboard's Summer Camp series. Join for joy, creativity and inspiration.According to the American Camping Association, summer camp started because of the transformational power of the outdoors for children living in cities:
It [Camp] utilizes trained leadership and the resources of natural surroundings to contribute to each camper’s mental, physical, social and spiritual growth.
Scientific research has confirmed there’s a positive impact of nature on health for all ages. In Fast Company, Dr. Srini Pillay wrote about “How to use the benefit of nature to reduce anxiety at work:”
Shinrin-yoku, also known as forest bathing, is the “traditional Japanese practice of immersing oneself in nature by mindfully using all five senses.” It’s been associated with feelings of relaxation and awe, both of which may help your anxiety. Being immersed in nature can also improve your creativity.
Here are 5 ways to bring that outdoor camp feeling to work culture:🌤️ Count Clouds
🌌 Look at the Stars
🌳 Take Nature Walks
🐦 Go Bird Watching
🪨 🌱 Plant a (Rock) Garden
#1 🌤️ Count Clouds
Founded in 2005, The Cloud Appreciation Society was founded by Author and Cloudspotter Gavin Pretor-Pinney. The Society’s manifesto encourages its members to do the following:
Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and always remember to live life with your head in the clouds!
Pretor-Pinney’s TED Talk, “Cloudy with a Chance of Joy” has been viewed more than 1 million times and champions the power of imagination and resilience in the skies. There are also Lesson Plans. While they are intended for classrooms, the activities can be adapted for all ages, including your team:
Discover the clouds together. We have consciously incorporated mindfulness aspects to these lessons alongside the STEAM content. The sky and the clouds are a good subject with which to explore emotional wellbeing and we encourage educators to try to incorporate the mindfulness aspects.
🌸 Nature at Work: Create an internal cloud channel to share photos of clouds often. Start a team meeting by inviting everyone to share a favorite cloud photo and talk about the power of the clouds. Take a walk with a colleague and make time to look at the clouds. #2 🌌 Look at the Stars
When the clouds go to sleep, the constellations appear. Looking at the stars also helps with well-being, in particular recharging and inspiring wonder. Matthew Miller wrote in Shondaland’s Stargazing: A Magical Way to Escape:
Stargazing eases our minds and rejuvenates our spirits, and research has shown that it makes us more compassionate toward others…The night sky inspires such awe, and capturing that sense of awe has been found to turn us into better people.
With an app for identifying constellations, SkyView, empowers stargazers to point and scan their smartphone cameras to discover the skies.
🌸 Nature at Work: Invite employees to share the constellations they saw to spark wonder for each other. This can be shared as an ice-breaker at an offsite or a team meeting. Track all the constellations for a period of time to try to map the sky as a team. #3 🌳Take Nature Walks
The Mayo Clinic warns that we sit too much while working. But, walking can have a positive impact on our physical and mental health. In Psychology Today, the study of a ritual of Mindful Walking & Walking Meditation: A Restorative Practice demonstrates positive results, especially when paired with meditation. There are many apps with guided walks when you’re on your own or consider a group:
Beyond any doubt, walking promotes mental and physical health. It also helps develop our sense of community. Indeed, walking or even marching in a group can offer support and solidarity for a shared cause or belief.
🌸 Nature at Work: Encourage team members to take breaks during the day to get away from their desks and rejuvenate in nature. Track your team’s nature walks for a total goal with incentivized prizes. Incorporate walking into your meetings. #4 🐦 Go Bird Watching
The sounds of birds singing can spark feelings of cheerfulness or serenity. For more than a decade, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has made it simpler for anyone to become a birder without binoculars. At the touch of a button, a field guide is at your fingertips with the Merlin Bird app which identifies birds by their photographs and songs.
In addition, there’s also mindfulness associated with bird watching. From the UK’s Natural History Museum, listening to birds can transform mental health as a stress reliever and attention restorer. Learn more about the Lab of O’s birding impact in The New York Times.
🌸 Nature at Work: If you’re at an office, track the birds nearby together as a team. If you’re remote, observe the birds near your home and share it with your team members. It would be interesting to discover who has seen similar birds or different species. #5 🪨 🌱 Plant a (Rock) Garden
The Mayo Clinic also encourages people to “Dig into the benefits of gardening:”
It's been shown to lighten mood and lower levels of stress and anxiety. It's very gratifying to plant, tend, harvest and share your own food.
Routines provide structure to our day and are linked to improved mental health. Gardening routines, like watering and weeding, can create a soothing rhythm to ease stress…pulling weeds can be therapeutic and calming after a long day. It provides the opportunity to slow down, plan or mentally work out a problem.
In addition, consider painting rocks to promote kindness. Megan Murphy started The Kindness Rocks Project® with inspirational messages on rocks in her hometown; now people worldwide are bringing the movement to their communities. She even teaches you her technique for the perfect rock art.
🌸 Nature at Work: If in-person, create a (rock) garden on campus. If remote, send your employees supplies to create their own (rock) gardens and share the pictures in an internal platform. What are your ideas for incorporating nature into the ways we communicate and connect at work? Leave a comment or reply to this email within 48 hours and I’ll reply with some thoughts.
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