5 Ways Nature Can Inspire Creativity
Post summary: Five proven ways being outdoors can inspire creativity.
When I’m outdoors, I feel freaking fantastic. I’m energized, stoked, and most of all, inspired to create. There’s just something about the crisp fresh air of a morning in the mountains, the smell of pine on a hot summer day, and the salty ocean spray that makes me feel so alive. I knew there had to be some type of psychological benefit to being outdoors, I just hadn’t given it much thought. The feelings are STRONG and I got curious–are there any proven reasons the outdoors makes me feel this dang good? I had to know.
So, I dove into some research, and it turns out, those feelings of happiness, contentment, excitement, and creativeness are proven side effects of a solid dose of the great outdoors. Rad, right? Read on for five proven ways nature can inspire creativity.
This post is in partnership with Zoku–an eco-conscious lifestyle brand whose two-toned bottles and tumblers inspire adventurers to live creatively, whatever that means to you! They also plant a tree for every purchased vacuum sealed bottle or tumbler! How cool is that?
1. There’s so much to experience! Whether you’re a bungee-jumping adrenaline junkie or a PCT thru-hiker, or maybe a relaxing evening in a hammock is more your speed, there’s natural inspiration literally everywhere we look. And how can we not be inspired by something that’s naturally creative itself? The perfect formation of a shell, the wave patterns carved into antelope canyon, the patterns on the back of a leaf.
Mother Nature is the poster child of ingenuity–it’s inspired modern-day inventions like Velcro and wind turbines, and there’s much more where that comes from.
2. Spending time outdoors can reduce stress and improve your mental health. A Cornell research group found that spending 10-50 minutes outdoors can significantly reduce stress. After 50 minutes, the positive benefits seem to plateau, keeping you at that mood-boosted level as long as your outside.
A mental health organization known as MIND found that 71% of participants who were assigned a walk in nature rather than a trip to the shopping mall reported reduced symptoms of depression, while the shoppers’ depression actually increased by 22%.
Spending time in natural spaces also encourages positive emotions, which in turn, broadens our attention and increases the amount of content we can digest. It can help us look beyond what we see (Lion King, anyone?), but seriously, a couple of positive emotions could help us go that extra mile and keep a wider perspective on life. This is the Broaden and Build theory, which also suggests that positive emotions lead to a more welcoming demeanor, which encourages collaboration and can inspire creativity too!
If you think you may be struggling with your mental health, please call 800-273-8255 for help.
3. Green space can boost memory and brain function. Your brain is at its happiest when its well-rested, and a happy brain is a creative brain. If you work it too hard, it’ll give out. If it’s bombarded with information–which is so easy these days when our phones are by our side at all times–it has no room or energy for anything else, and your attention and memory will fade. It needs a little R&R just like everything else, and I’m not just talking about sleep (although, that would help).
The Journal of Environmental Psychology says just 20 minutes outside is all you need to help get your brain back to its happy place. So shut off your phone and leave the concrete jungle behind for just 20 minutes and see how you feel! You may have just cured your writer’s block!
4. Nature can strengthen your immune system. We’re about to get a little science-y, so bear with me. Plants release phytoncides into the air that have antibacterial and anti-fungal qualities, which help plants fight disease. When we breath in these chemicals, our body reacts by producing more white blood cells, which is what helps us combat diseases, in turn, boosting our immune system. And let me tell ya, it’s nearly impossible to be creative with a fever, or really do anything at all. https://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/90720.html
5. Venturing outside can make you feel more alive! All of the benefits mentioned above–a healthier immune system, positive thoughts, increased brain function, and improving mental health–energize us and make us feel alive, which can inspire creativity.
Think back on some of your trail talk–I bet you’ve had a few creative ideas yourself. Mine include some pretty out-there business ideas that I’ll save for another time :) You never know what you might conjure up in the outdoors!
Next time you’re outdoors, try seeing each leaf, feeling the warmth of the sun or the water rush over your body, hearing each step, each bird, and each breeze through the trees. Feel the epic benefits of nature working their way into your body with every mile. Let nature inspire creativity.
