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One of my favorite self-care tips that I give to clients is to get houseplants, and for those who already have some, add to your collection ;)
It may seem counterintuitive, but caring for something outside of yourself is one of the best and fastest ways to care for ourselves. Getting a houseplant or tending an entire jungle inside your home, when done mindfully, can help increase our well-being. Merely putting attention and effort into the care of something outside of your own being actually ends up putting energy into yourself!
Here are a few reasons why getting and caring for houseplants could be a great step forward in your self care journey:
Plants Lower Stress
Incorporating plants into your home or office spaces can help to lower stress levels. Their mere presence can help lower blood pressure, heart rate, and lower stress levels. Humans evolved in nature and amongst greenery. Simply having plants around us subconsciously puts our brains at ease. Visual queues that we are working and living in an environment that can sustain life, will automatically help us to thrive better in artificial environments that we all find ourselves in.
Gardening as Therapy
It has been found that gardening and caring for plants, even inside your house at a small scale, can be therapeutic. Putting attention and effort into the maintenance and care of plants can help us to keep our brains primed and our stress levels in check. The tasks involved in cultivation and caretaking of plants have even been shown to help people with dementia, depression, or anxiety.
Sharpen your Attention
Having live plants in your environment has been shown to sharpen attention and help people to focus. Classes with live plants showed that students paid better attention than classrooms which simply had fake plants or even pictures of plants. There is something about having other living things in our midst that helps us to thrive better.
Recovery Time Shortens
It has been shown that people who are ill or have had surgeries heal and recover faster when they can see plants and/or flowers. The mere visual queue that flowers and plants offer stimulates a healthier recovery in patients. Perhaps it is the hope that flowers and plants bring to our brains and senses that helps our tissues and organs heal better.
Work May Improve
Having plants inside the workplace has been shown to increase productivity, increase job satisfaction, and lower stress. Having an office window that looks out on green spaces like parks has been shown to increase job satisfaction and workers’ abilities to focus and produce. Similarly, offices with live plants have the effect of boosting job satisfaction and productivity. Try it out!
Improved Air Quality
As most of us are well-aware, live plants are also linked to better air quality. They cycle carbon dioxide and pump out oxygen into our environment. They have also been shown to reduce pollution and chemical compounds often found in our homes and work spaces.
Mood Boosters
Having plants in your work and home environments has been shown to improve moods. Who doesn’t want that? Seeing and being around plants can help us to escape our thoughts and lean into positivity. Our brains enjoy seeing greenery and relax when around plants.
Increased Creativity
Your creativity can also be positively impacted by being surrounded by plants. It is not by accident that many people, and especially artists, escape to nature in order to recharge and reinspire themselves. So much of the art world comes from nature and plants. Many aspects of architecture, paintings, and our everyday surroundings were inspired by nature. Feeling a waning in your creative juices? Maybe it is time to get to know more plants!
Life Lessons
One of the things I receive most from my houseplants are important life lessons. Plants are mortal things that will not live forever and can often get infested with pests or die mysteriously. Although on the surface these things seem like negative aspects of having plants, I believe that my plants help keep me grounded in reality.
Experiencing the loss of a cherished plant due to its death helps me to remember how fragile life is and to live mine more fully. Experiencing the process of acceptance over and over is a healthy thing for us to practice. Plants offer us several opportunities to reconnect with the natural cycles of life. They model healing in miraculous ways. They can lose body parts and end up healing in fascinating ways that can inspire us. Some of the most interesting trees and plants in this world have experienced a lot of stress, trauma, and loss. They show us that even the worst events in our lives can turn us into the most interesting and healthy creatures around. They remind us that life goes on and often in unexpected, inspiring ways!
Much like us, some plants like to be in groups, while some like to be solo. Some enjoy social settings, some do not! Plants not doing well in one house or corner of the house may thrive in another. Finding our own niche in life can help us to thrive and bloom.
Plants also remind us that growth takes patience and care. By having plants we are reminded to hydrate, feed ourselves good things, get some sun with fresh air, and grow, grow, grow. There are many lessons in the value of consistency.
