Go Outside

Go outside. If not now, as soon as you can. Why? For one thing, unless you live in a smog-laden community, the air is cleaner outside, therefore healthier. And, if the sun is shining, your body will reward you with the production of Vitamin D, which promotes cardiovascular and tissue health. Did you know that patients who spend time outdoors in natural light tend to heal faster, both physically and mentally, than those who remain inside?

You can love your job but still feel numb after hours of looking at a keyboard or attending meetings or shuffling papers or working in a factory. Take a walk. Get a breath of fresh air. The exercise will do you good, strengthening muscles and helping you to maintain or lose weight. Take a friend or co-worker with you. Share a concern or give a heartfelt compliment.

Or take it a step further. Plan a trip into the forest—guided, if you feel the need. You will be amazed at how immersing yourself in the wilderness changes things. Without the noise of the office or production site or city streets, your mind is free to be its true creative self. Your energy level should increase, along with your ability to focus. This is what men and women over the centuries—from Pythagorus to William Wordsworth to Henry David Thoreau to John Muir—have known.

“Come forth into the light of things; let nature be your teacher,” Wordsworth advised.

“Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable,” Thoreau noted more than 150 years ago, “but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.”

Wouldn’t Thoreau be horrified by the amount of time people spent looking at laptop, smartphone and iPad screens? It doesn’t have to be one or the other—your job or your physical, mental and spiritual health; or your technology or your inner peace. It’s about balance and knowing how to tap into your creative center and soul. Go outside.