Spiritual Wellness and Park Rx

In June I attended the National Wellness Conference in Minneapolis. It was a great time for re-connecting with friends and colleagues in the wellness profession. My next few posts will highlight some of the information that I gleaned from the conference.

This month’s wellness inspiration is inspired by Spiritual Wellness, being connected to something greater than ourselves. During the summer months, we get to enjoy warmer weather, may stay outside more, and get to connect to our surroundings and environment. Our connection to the great outdoors is so important to our overall wellness there is even a term for doctors prescribing time in the great outdoors, “Park Rx.” Below are a few sentiments to inspire you to fulfill your Park Rx while the weather is nice, stars are shooting in the skies, and the nearest body of water beckons.

There is pleasure in the pathless woods; There is rapture on the lonely shore; There is society, where none intrudes, by the deep sea and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more. -Lord Byron

In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia. -Charles A. Lindbergh

I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order. -John Burroughs

I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things… I play with leaves, I skip down the street and run against the wind. -Leo Buscaglia

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous. -Aristotle

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow. -Helen Keller

Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence. -Hal Borland

Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby. -Langston Hughes

Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was. -Dag Hammarskjold

We do not see nature with our eyes, but with our understandings and our hearts. – William Hazlitt

Nature always tends to act in the simplest way. -Bernoulli

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. -Greek Proverb

When preparing to climb a mountain – pack a light heart. -Dan May

Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit. -Edward Abbey

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. -Edward Abbey

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day. -Henry David Thoreau

Now I see the secret of making the best person, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth. -Walt Whitman

Nature has a funny way of breaking what does not bend. –Alice Walker

If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking. Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk. -Raymond Inmon

Have a wonderful time for the remainder of the summer. – Karen