How nature makes you happier and more creative!

I grew up in Finland surrounded by lakes, forest and open fields. Although, I have lived elsewhere for the past 23 years I always miss the Nordic woods with fragrant pine trees and deep green moss with air as fresh as spring water.

Nature has always given inspiration for my work and helped me to unwind and make me feel grounded but after reading an article about nature's benefits on human psychology I truly believe in it's power! Scientists have found evidence that "being in nature has a profound impact on our brains and our behavior, helping us to reduce anxiety, brooding, and stress, and increase our attention capacity, creativity, and our ability to connect with other people." The researchers go on to say: "Today, we live with ubiquitous technology designed to constantly pull for our attention. But many scientists believe our brains were not made for this kind of information bombardment, and that it can lead to mental fatigue, overwhelm, and burnout, requiring 'attention restoration' to get back to a normal, healthy state." Researchers also believe that "being in nature restores depleted attention circuits, which can then help us be more open to creativity and problem-solving. If you’ve been using your brain to multitask—as most of us do most of the day—and then you set that aside and go on a walk, without all of the gadgets, you’ve let the prefrontal cortex recover,” researchers go on to add. “And that’s when we see these bursts in creativity, problem-solving, and feelings of well-being.”

This past summer I got a chance to go back home to Finland to work on boosting my creativity and mood after a stressful, energy draining spring. I ended up going for multiple long walks in a pine tree forest with my childhood friend and her 10 year-old twin daughters. As children we played at that same forest numerous times and I could still hear the echo of our giggles bouncing from tree to tree. In the same forest we also made pottery out of mud that laid at the bottom of a stream running through the woods. I hope you get into the wild soon to fill up your creative tank and to enjoy life to the fullest… and like the twins stated at the end of our walk: "Nature is Magical!"