Nurse Audrey's Stress Relief

Your Stress Relief Minute

The Garden – A Place of Peace

The gardening season is just beginning in our part of the country with the garden centres busy with customers selecting their favorite annuals and perennials. Yes, there are those who just live for gardening, those who enjoy it a little, and those who are not interested in it at all. For the latter group, let me help pique your interest on a pleasurable way to beat stress.

There are different types of gardens: vegetable, flower, and container gardening. Of course the vegetable garden usually requires a fair amount of space, but it is surprising how many rows of peas and carrots one can squeeze into a small space. Even if you do not have much space in your yard for conventional gardening, there are other ways to enjoy this relaxing pastime—use hanging baskets for flowers and containers for tomatoes and strawberries.

When we are engaged in digging, planting, dead-heading, harvesting, and other activities associated with gardens, our minds become completely at ease. As we view God’s wonderful handiwork in nature—the variety of plants, their growth habits and watering needs, their brilliant colors and captivating scents—we enter into our own Garden of Eden, where worries and cares tend to melt away. Thus nature has a way of taking us far from our concerns, placing us in a relaxed place. Even the feel of the soil running through our fingers brings us a sense of healing. Therein lies the value of gardening.

In our back yard we have a hummingbird feeder and a bird bath. I have just learned that hummingbirds are attracted to a garden because of flowers that have a bell-like appearance, as in petunias. We planted some petunias and hung the hummingbird feeder close by and are waiting for our tiny visitors to arrive. At the bird bath, we watch with interest as the various robins, sparrows, and blue jays visit it and vie for their turn in the water. There is a pecking order that occurs here—the dominant birds are always allowed to do their thing without being hurried. Watching their interaction is pure relaxation.

Should you not have a garden, I encourage you to visit a garden nursery and see the variety of plants available, or visit a park and watch the birds and forest creatures interact. You will find that doing so will bring you a sense of relaxation and freedom from all worries, anxiety, and stress.

To lighten your day:

I can’t get anything to grow in my vegetable garden. I bought the best seeds. I planted peas and tomatoes, and I paid thirty cents a can for them.

When a man is described as having a green thumb, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a great gardener. It could also mean he’s a poor painter.

If flowers don’t talk back to you, are they mums?

Visit my Resources Page to find helpful information on the 2 CD series Surviving & Thriving on Stress, where you will learn relaxation techniques and even put an end to your insomnia.

Till next time… “Nurse Audrey” signing off!

Questions/Comments: audrey@possibilitiesnetwork.com
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