Today, I have a story to tell. An interviewer for my city’s local parks came by my house to conduct a survey. The city’s town planning department wants to know if more parks should be earmarked for development in every township. In order to justify this notion, it has to be established if citizens use parks as positive recreational spaces to self manage low energy mood; better known as negative, sad mood or long term depression.
What has parks got to do with sadness? Everything. The point of surveying was to collect feedback on the usage of parks as places of relaxation. Nature therapy is being explored for relaxation, mood lifting and treating sadness.
I don’t have time to walk to the park for nature therapy. I do my shopping therapy when I need to go out to buy groceries. I don’t have spare money to spend on luxury retail shopping. I usually enjoy going out for a short trip like grocery shopping, to change my mood. Metaphorically speaking, I kill two birds with one stone.
I like this quote from Jackie Kennedy, on sadness;
“One must not let oneself be overwhelmed by sadness. “
What can I do to avoid myself being affected by a sad mood?
- Walk to the park. Access nature therapy.
- Visit the beach.
- Go out for grocery shopping therapy.
- Read a book. Browse through book recommendations here.
- Watch a video.
- Spend some time on a hobby like craft work, painting, etc. Paint a series of miniatures here.
- Visit a free exhibition on art.