Simple Self Improvement

                                                                                   Image:Marie Vonow Following on from yesterday's tip of spending time in Nature, comes the tip for day 5, spend time gardening. If spending time in Nature makes people happy, it makes sense that time doing some gardening will contribute to happiness. As well, when you are gardening you are getting exercise which increases happiness (happiness tip day 3). Easy to grow plants can be very colourful                    ...

                                                                                                     Image:Marie Vonow Research has found what many people know from their own experience, contact with Nature increases happiness . So, my happiness tip for day 4 is, spend more time in a natural environment. You don't have to go on a holiday to the beach, mountains, river or any other natural environment to get a boost of happiness. Time spent walking a tree lined street, pottering around in...

Gum blossom                                  Image:Marie Vonow I love being in a natural environment. It could be my own garden, someone else's garden, a park or the botanic gardens. It could be by a river, in the hills or at the beach. When I am in a natural environment I find it easy to live in the moment and to feel gratitude. Nature is good for the soul, I can feel it doing me good and research shows Nature is beneficial to a person's health. For more info, check out - http://selfavenue.com/why-nature-makes-us-happy/ http://selfavenue.com/nature-relatedness/39201/ Local river in winter       Image:Marie Vonow Elements of Nature such as birds bring joy                     ...

Blackbirds hang out in the palm   Image:Marie Vonow Life is full of things to do, people to catch up with and appointments to attend. It seems there is always so much to do and life can be overwhelming if you don't schedule time to just breathe. I am fortunate at this point in my life I don't have to rush off to work in the morning. I am able to take some time for myself most mornings and watch the birds in my garden as I slowly drink my coffee. I wrote this short poem about relaxing in the garden and observing the local birds.         Birds And Nature Friendly birds sitting in the tree Joyfully singing songs for me, I love to sip my coffee while I sit, Watch them and relax for a bit. Nature can calm my active mind I look around, focus on what I find, Stop and take a break from stress Breathe deep, don’t think about life's mess. You may already know, from ...

A garden can bring much joy                             Image:Marie Vonow I enjoy spending time in the garden but to be honest I can’t be bothered with any plants that need to be fussed over. There are so many types which are easy to grow that I can’t see the point in actually stressing over plants when I want to enjoy my time in the garden. Some people do enjoy the challenge of getting a delicate or fussy plant to grow but that's not my style, I prefer things that are simple. When it comes to veggies and herbs, I plant easy to grow stuff like loose leaf lettuce, rocket, spring onions, chives, basil, parsley, rosemary, silver beet and tomatoes. I grow some things in containers and others directly in the garden.              Rosemary bush    ...

                                                                                                  Image:Marie Vonow What does the word ordinary mean? According to my old Heinemann Australian Dictionary (yes the old one held together with sticky tape), ordinary means normal, usual or average. That doesn’t sound very exciting. It sounds like enjoying the ordinary means accepting things that are pretty boring and dull. Actually, it is the opposite. It means discovering the exciting aspects in everyday th...

Enjoy a savouring walk                                                              Image:Pixabay We have had some beautiful weather lately, great time to enjoy a walk in a natural environment. Autumn has been late arriving this year but now the heat is definitely gone. Yes, sometimes it is cold, but there are times when it is 'Goldilocks weather', not too hot and not too cold but just right. For a moment there I thought I had made up an expression but when I googled it I found this expression has been used by others. Oh well. Recently I came across the term 'Savouring Walk' on the internet. The idea of a savouring walk is to spend twenty minutes taking a walk during which you make a point of using your senses to notice everything around you. Really look at t...