At 71, I am very healthy and happy – and almost grateful for being diagnosed with systemic lupus just as I was retiring as a nursing professor at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. I was ready to enjoy retirement and had all sorts of plans, but this diagnosis threw a grenade into them!
My Green Space Story
At the time of my diagnosis, I had so many fears that I could not articulate them. I was terrified. I knew the limited world of medical care and I knew the disease. As a nurse, researcher, and administrator, I knew that systemic lupus could take down every organ in my body. I cared for people as they died of lupus. There was little we could do.
At that moment, it was not only what lupus was doing to my body but to my looks. Bald patches appeared on the top of my head and a red rash covered my face, ears and neck. When my physician specialist advised me to avoid the sun, I thought, “Ok, I am ready to hide from the world anyway.”
For a year, I stayed mostly inside, telling myself I was being a good “compliant patient” – following doctor’s orders. But what changed, and I believe saved my life after a year of feeling like a prisoner in a cell, was when a member of my online lupus support group said that she “went outside all the time – at any time.” She just wore sunscreen and a hat.
That day I headed outside and immediately I felt better. I felt like myself and strong… and that made me curious. So, I started to use my research skills to delve into the world of greenspace research.
I Found Hope
What I found was solid peer reviewed green space research conducted at the best universities in the world that showed your time in green space improves your short- and long-term memory, increases your ability to concentrate, and helps you to problem-solve.
Your time in green space also lifts your mood, boosts your energy level, and gives you self-confidence. These are studies done on thousands of people over decades.
I was shocked that I’d not seen any of this research make it into the curriculum for health care practitioners… and indeed, into the hands of everyday people. I made it my mission to share the results that helped me so much. At first, I wrote my book, Take Back Your Outside Mindset, to help me. I needed it to get better.
Green Space Makes Meditation Easier and Perhaps More Powerful
Much like the benefits of green space, mindfulness is something you can believe in, learn about, and practice. I started with simply noticing what was going on in my mind. The art of noticing is Harvard Professor Ellen Langer’s definition of mindfulness. Noticing is what we do outside. By noticing we become excited, our neurons fire. Noticing gives us energy. Here is a noticing tip from Langer:
“Pretend you are traveling, and notice something new in things you think you already know. Simply noticing the new in the old accelerates the inner work of freeing your mind from negative emotions.”
And it turns out green space is the perfect place to notice and to meditate. A large study of many studies (called a systematic review) done by a team of Danish researchers showed “green space made meditation easier and perhaps more powerful…. And that mindfulness and connectedness to nature may have a reciprocal relationship.” I talk a lot about this in my book, Optimize Your Heart Rate Balance.
Through practicing the art of noticing when I am outside, I began to trust my body and I practiced dropping unhealthy thoughts about myself and my world around me. Langer sums it up as “what our mind believes, our body delivers.”
Now, 10 years after my lupus diagnosis, although my marker for lupus ANA (anti-nuclear antibodies) is still on the high side of the lupus scale, my white blood count is normal for the first time, and I have no protein in my urine (signalling kidney damage) anymore. It seems on every level I am getting better – healthier and happier – and I attribute all of this to mindfulness in green space.
Here’s a little taste of how I incorporate meditation into my life.
Start Your Morning Remembering That Everything Is OK And Take One Phrase with You Outside
A few years ago, my niece told me she uses the 10% Happier meditation app (no affiliation here) so I tried it. I now start every single morning with the 10% Happier app meditations… and so do my grown-up kids because I gave them the app too.
I have trouble sitting still so I often listen to the meditation while I am preparing my coffee, taking my heart rate variability measurement outside, doing my hula hoop on the outdoor patio, doing my mobility stretches inside in the early morning, or even when I am tidying up the kitchen. The main thing is that I start my day with an expert meditation teacher saying to me in a calm voice, for 10 minutes, that everything is ok.
From my morning meditation, I write down one phrase to take with me outside into green space, such as “be simple and easy” (Joseph Goldstein) or “follow your out-breath right to the end” (Sebene Selassie).
Let’s Keep the Conversation Going:
I don’t know if you have a meditation practice, but would you consider starting one to combine with your time spent in green space? What phrases do you or would you like to say to yourself when you are outside in green space? What do you think about combining the two practices: meditation/mindfulness and spending time in nature?
