by Sarah Ivens
Kate, 33
“People say this but rarely do it: stop and smell the roses. I always do, I love the old-fashioned, strong-smelling varieties, and I can’t help but stop to sniff! Flowers have a true, pure beauty that can dazzle most of the senses if we remember to appreciate them. I adore springtime blossoms and how the pale pink variety makes the branches of trees look like they have candyfloss dripping from them. I love wading through a sea of bluebells, or tiptoeing across a carpet of lavender. When city life closes me off from life, a vase of flowers next to my bed or even the sight of a flower stall on a busy street reminds me of a million smells and sights.”
Catch spring fever
Spring is the perfect time to try new things and to push yourself, which is why it’s the perfect season to start your own version of forest therapy and connecting more deeply with the natural world. You have decided to become a happier, less stressed, stronger you—not an unrecognisable you, just an updated, less anxious version, who might hug trees in your spare time. Well, I’m joking about the tree hugging (although it does feel good). Spring is about being brave and experimental, like all those animals you see in the forest, leaving their nests and flying for the first time or hopping away from their mothers. This is the season of accelerated glory, and you are your own best advocate.
Spring is the season to set yourself a list of once-in-a-lifetime experiences the natural world has to offer: moments you’d regret missing out on. These suggestions are from my own “thank goodness I got around to doing that” list:
Take out a canoe or kayak for a water-world adventure. Dock along pretty banks to rest and check out the creatures that inhabit this aquatic area. When safely anchored, a picnic or a nap is a delight, the gentle rocking of the boat soothing for the body and mind. My children and godchildren persuaded me onto a boating lake in Suffolk last summer, and after my initial fear that I was in charge of five kids under age ten and capsizing would be terrible, we sang and floated, and worked our muscles as we drifted past ducks, and I will never forget how charming it was.
Cycle around a city—it’s a good new way to take it all in and fall in love with it. Here’s an example. New York can be a pretty heavy place in which to live, where zombies march on packed sidewalks staring into their handheld devices, get grimy on the subway or come to a smoggy standstill in taxi traffic. On Sundays when I first moved to Manhattan (and had no friends, whimper whimper), I’d rent a bike and cruise around Central Park and up to a pretty garden spot on a boating lake for lunch. This was how I got to know and admire the city. The aching thighs during Monday meetings (I’m not a natural athlete) were worth it.
Dance barefoot on a beach Kick off your shoes, your inhibitions and worries—and move. There’s something freeing about the feel of sand between your toes. It not only exfoliates your soles but your soul too. And if you’re thinking about shaking off winter overindulgences, know this: walking on sand burns 30 percent more calories than walking on a flat human-made surface, so just imagine what dancing on sand would do. You don’t have to wait until you’re in St. Barts either. Galveston will do, or the Jersey Shore or Kiawah Island. Just find some sand and groove.
Gaze up at the Northern Lights Notoriously fickle and good at hide and seek, this dazzling display refuses to obey a schedule, but some tips will make your chances of catching the glorious Aurora Borealis late-night show more likely. Head to the auroral zone (Alaska, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Scotland and Iceland are top options) during winter or spring, when the nights are still dark but with less cloud cover. And, to avoid disappointment, in case they don’t show, make sure you’ve gone to a place you’d love to see anyway—and try glacier hiking, dogsledding, mountain-pony trekking or snowmobile racing.
Spring playlist
Get moving and grooving to these ten life-loving, energy-boosting tunes, perfect for this season of new hope and new beginnings—and more energy:
“Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac
“Spring is Here” by Frank Sinatra
“A Father’s First Spring” by The Avett Brothers
“The First Day of Spring” by Noah and the Whale
“You’re My Best Friend” by Queen
“Build Me Up Buttercup” by The Foundations
“Absolute Beginners” by David Bowie
“Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” by Michael Jackson
“Spring Haze” by Tori Amos
“Spring Manifestations” by Santana
Spring clean your soul
Your house and wardrobe are organized, your suitcase is filled with aims and ambitions—what about your mind? This new season, the legendary time of renewal, is the perfect moment to ask yourself some deep and meaningful questions. Take a moment somewhere quiet, somewhere you can breathe deeply and be honest, and ask yourself these three questions:
1 Do I need to change any of the “rules” my life has been governed by so far?
Do I need to always say yes to people and events? Do I need to bake everything from scratch? Do I need to throw dinner parties when I find them stressful and expensive? Without even realizing it, we all fall into bad habits and time-costing restrictions. We spend time with people we don’t adore, doing things that don’t make our heart sing. Evaluate the “rules” you’ve set out for yourself and change the ones you don’t like. Rebel! Carve out a life that will make you happier this spring and for the seasons to come. Taking a good, honest look at how you’re spending your time will help you to free up more time for the pursuits outlined in this book that will benefit you. I don’t own an iron, for example. My mother is horrified, my mother-in-law is shocked, and I often wander about looking oddly crumpled. I don’t care. Ironing is not a priority to me or to the happiness of my family; I’d rather spend time playing outdoors.
2 Do I need to lighten up and let go?
If, like me, you are kept awake at night by fusses and faults, and itchy-scratchy feelings of guilt or insecurity, you need to do an Elsa and let it go. Let’s dump that mental weight like a heap of winter’s snow, watch it melt and move forward guilt-free with a spring in our step. I hang on to things for too long, I always have since I was a child, and it’s done me no favors whatsoever. I overanalyze everything and everyone, looking for signs that I’ve upset them or done them wrong. Freud would have had a field day and unearthed many a drama to explain my foibles away, but at some point—around turning forty—I just gave up. An older, wiser friend told me two things around this time. First, you can’t make people be like you; you just have to be able to like yourself. Secondly, you should leave any interaction with a friend or family member feeling warm and fuzzy. If you leave feeling upset or agitated, you need to address your attitude or distance yourself from their behavior. Life is for living with love and lightness, not with dread or a cruel dredging up of the past. And life is too short not to spend your time feeling healthy, helpful and happy.
3 How can I stimulate my mind and body in new, refreshing ways?
Right, you’ve finished with all the self-analysis and looking backwards. Now, what can you do to put your best foot forward? How can you create this unleashed, free, happy you? Here are some ways to get there:
• You can swap your toxic friends (those embittered by jealousy, anger, aggression or extreme neediness toward you) for new ones whose interests align more closely with yours. Find them in a book club, a yoga studio, among mindful nature walkers, at your child’s school gates, at an after-work social, at the local gardening club—anywhere you like being, anywhere that makes your life better. As you move forward into this new, exciting season, you will naturally attract like-minded people who are also aiming for the good things in life. Don’t forget to bring your lovely old friends with you on these new journeys, too.
• You can set up a competition—with yourself, rather than being competitive with anyone else. Push yourself to be happier, healthier, more rested or better read. Set yourself challenges that will make you prosper and flourish as a perso
n, and stop looking around at what other people are doing or what other people have.
• Do something every day that scares you—be it talking to a new person, going for a walk or a coffee on your own, starting to learn a new language or starting to grow herbs on your balcony when you are not renowned for your green thumb. The possibilities are endless and so, when you realize it, is your resourcefulness.
• Find a mentor. Be a mentor. Locate the people who will encourage you to sow positive ideas and want to watch them grow, and do the same for another—someone younger than you, or a few years behind you in your chosen field. We’re all on this ladder of life together and it helps to pull each other up toward the sky.
• Take on a physical challenge and monitor your progress in a diary or journal. I’m not talking about taking part in Iron Man or wanting bulging biceps, but whatever fits into your lifestyle and desires—promise yourself five minutes of sun salutations every morning, a tree-lined walk every lunchtime, an outdoor swim every Sunday. Mental clarity and positivity benefit no end from physical movement.
Spring reads
Here are five books to rejuvenate you during a spring day in a meadow:
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim
The Liar by Stephen Fry
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
April showers bring May flowers… and rubber boots
Of course, springtime isn’t all about gambolling lambs, hopping bunnies and you wandering through dappled trees with the year’s first warmth on your skin while feeling blissfully abundant; it can be pretty damp and drab too. Some folks tend to use a downpour as an excuse to hide in the dark and, of course, there is a very real argument for keeping the amount of sogginess in your life to a minimum. But, and it’s a big but, cat-and-dog weather also showers us with opportunities to feel alive like no other weather system can. Why should jumping in muddy puddles or catching raindrops on your tongue be the exclusive privilege of the very young? I say the older we get the more we need these kinds of innocent, stress-relieving pursuits.
I have always admired Gene Kelly grinning as he’s getting a soaking in Singin’ in the Rain. Next time there’s a deluge, get out and recreate it (bar the run-in with a frosty policeman, please). Or you could find a semi-sheltered spot outdoors during a cloudburst (tin roofs are the best) and engage your senses, listening to the pitter-patter as it hits your hideout while watching the charcoal clouds push across your horizon. And, of course, a good day of window-washing will give you the chance to show off the cute rubber boots and matching raincoat combo you’ve been desperate for an occasion to unleash. If all these pursuits fail to excite you, just remember that the forest—and your back garden—is drinking it all in, getting hydrated before summer beckons, and loving every drop.
Spring flowers
These blooms are abundant at this time of year and symbolic of the season, so treat your home—and yourself—to a posy if you can this spring:
Daffodils
Freesias
Hyacinths
Lily-of-the-valley
Magnolias
Peonies
Tulips
Stephanie, 45
“I have observed late February to early March in Kentucky, where I live, a magic that happens every year in our rolling fields and hills. It is so subtle that I always wonder if others can see it. It is a shift in the hues of the terrain. The browns of winter reflect the colors of a dusky sky, then a purpling of the ground occurs, like a wash or a wave moving across it. Logically, I attribute it to spring, but I don’t really know its source. Poetically, it is for me Earth’s aura as it shifts to the coming season, and it beckons me to uncurl and twist gently from my own winter shell.”
MINDFULNESS MINUTE
Meditate on new beginnings and fresh starts, symbolic of spring. Close your eyes and think back to the person you were ten years ago. Who were you then? Now think about who you are today. Would the old you be proud and excited by your world today? What would make them proud? Give yourself a mental hug and congratulations for achieving so much. Now think forward. Who will you be in ten years’ time? Set yourself some goals and imagine yourself blossoming and growing, reaching for the treetops like a bulb in the ground, bursting full of color and life. Meditate on three things that you want to set in place. Now open your eyes and begin.
4
Summer Lovin’
Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.
Henry James
Summer is the most sensuous of seasons. The temperature rises and clothes are abandoned. Sun-kissed skin and sun-bleached hair glows as the sun sets in a collage of reds and pinks across the sky. On long, balmy evenings the scent of jasmine lingers in the air, mingling with coconut-scented limbs and citrus drinks. Colors are more vibrant and people look happier. There is a rush of pina coladas and bikinis, pool floats and gelato, flip-flops and mini golf, rock pools and pontoons. This is the season that being outdoors was made for, when partying hard and chilling even harder is the order of the day. And, obviously, the restorative power of a snooze in the shade of a tree as a warm breeze swirls around you should never be underestimated. Summer is simply the season of sumptuous delight, when even Mother Nature takes a holiday to sit back and admire her good work.
Science and reason of the summer season
The horror stories of the warmer months—wasps’ nests, mosquito bites, lobster-red sunburn, hair-destroying humidity—can be avoided (or ignored) with due care and diligence, and should certainly not stop you from making the most of getting outside and benefitting from the natural plus points of the hottest months. Why?
• Studies (and our own experience) show that we eat better—naturally and easily—in summer. The abundance of tempting fresh fruit, salad and vegetables is high in vitamin C and antioxidants but low in fat and pointless calories. We’re also more likely to drink our recommended two liters of water a day in warm weather, which helps to flush out toxins and improve digestion.
• Ultraviolet light converts dangerous cholesterol to vitamin D, so getting out in the sun’s bright rays for ten minutes every day is a good way of lowering cholesterol, which in turn will lower the risk of heart disease and stroke.
• A rise in temperature lowers the risk of deep-vein thrombosis as warm weather helps blood vessels enlarge, allowing for improved blood circulation.
• Warm weather eases the aches and pains of arthritis, allowing sufferers to feel more agile and supple.
• Clear, sunny days also reduce the chances of an onset of an attack for migraine sufferers.
• People are less likely to die from a heart attack in the summer, a UK study of 11,000 people showed. Scientists believe higher levels of vitamin D play a protective part in shielding those who suffer with heart problems, and also improves their chance of survival.
• Warm nights inspire people to lose the flannel pajamas and sleep naked. And this is good if you share a bed with someone you love, because skin-on-skin time increases oxytocin, making you feel all loved and cozy, which will lead to more sex, which has lots of physical and mental benefits of its own when done right.
• You sweat more. That might sound awful, but a good perspiration session really is an excellent way of opening your pores and getting rid of bacteria and toxins, which improves the look of your skin. More sweat also means more pheromones, the body’s natural scent that makes someone irresistible.
Friluftsliv-on-sea: the benefits of water therapy
Water works. It really does, in a myriad of ways. Our bodies are made up of 60 percent water (our brains 75 percent!) so it makes sense that we should learn to love it. Slurp it, look at it, sit in it—which are all easier to do in summer when the weather is warmer and the days are longer. How can you get into a routine of upping your aqua this season so that it
becomes second nature throughout the year?
1 Drink it
Start your day the water way. Wake up with a glass of water, before you eat or drink anything else. This simple, free daily task will rehydrate the body and restore the fluids used up overnight. Doing this will help in transporting nutrients through the body, maintaining the correct body temperature, digesting food and washing the brain with essential electrical energy. A single glass can speed up the brain’s processing and creative power, improve memory and help us to focus. Research shows that drinking 16 ounces of cold water first thing boosts a person’s metabolism by up to 24 percent, so staying hydrated can help you shed excess pounds too. Another thing, water is the great beautifier! Dehydration is one of the biggest causes for that dry, crinkled and wrinkled look we face as we get older, so irrigating your epidermis with Adam’s ale will plump you up and return your youthful glow.
