Wonderful powers of a flower

Why growing flowers is good for your health and the wonderful powers of a flower.

It is a well known fact that gardening can benefit the mind, body and soul. Therefore, we should all harness the power of gardening to improve our mental health and wellbeing. Read on to find the wonderful powers of a flower.

My post Garden to empower, out the anxiety gives some advice on the fantastic benefits of gardening and being outside with nature.

As a mental health first aider I was trained and experienced in the points below

Whatever size garden you have, whether large or small, a courtyard, some pots, a balcony, the benefits are the same.

I have been growing flowers for over 30 years, mostly for the pollinators, but also to have a beautiful garden full of blooms. I am also a Mental Health First Aider, so I am trained and experienced in all of these below:

• Recognising the obstacles to good mental health
• Realising that anybody can drift towards poor mental health
• Providing first aid when it is needed, and
• Encouraging habits that support good mental health

This is my story about the powers of a flower

In all my spare time, I have gardened from dawn till dusk. I have always been a very happy person. But suddenly, my world, outside of my home and all important garden, was not so great. Subsequently, my wellbeing was taking a dive. I was still loving my garden and growing flowers for the bees and butterflies. So I asked myself some questions:

What else should I be doing?

What could I do to help myself?

How could the wonderful powers of a flower help me?

The answer was fairly simple

I always raced around, sowing seeds, pricking the seedlings out, potting them on, planting them out, watering them, deadheading the flowers, sharing my excess plants with others.

I did not sit down for a while to appreciate all the flowers I had grown and the garden I had created.

Rarely did I stop to watch the bees and butterflies drinking the nectar my flowers were providing.

I did not pat myself on the back and take pride in the garden I had created.

In addition, I failed to think about my own wellbeing, when helping so many others to improve their own.

My solutions involving the powers of a flower

I sat down in my sun lounger and looked at my flowers and watched the bees and butterflies and my wellbeing started to gradually improve.

Furthermore, I stopped and looked at the cosmos, the dahlias, the echium blue bedder, the cornflowers, the sunflowers, the lavenders, and all the other flowers I had grown, all buzzing with bees.

I studied the butterflies drinking the nectar from my flowers and thought about how beautiful they were. The butterflies were very keen on my dahlias for pollinators and I love gazing at those.

In addition, I sniffed the lavender flowers. A real mood enhancer.

Naturally, my lovely chickens and cats were with me, so the sun lounger was fairly crowded at times, but we all enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Also, I just relaxed.

The results

The stress and anxiety I had been feeling reduced, my enjoyment, sense of achievement, satisfaction and pride increased. I understood that nurturing the plants and taking the time to sit and look at the results was not only nurturing nature, it was also nurturing me.

I believe that we all need to relax more and engage with our surroundings. Once we stop for a while, and really look at what we have created, our wellbeing will get a well earned boost.

My post A powerful gardening for wellbeing story is another wellbeing story, demonstrating the huge benefits of gardening.

Here are a few more heartening tales charting the recovery of a dear friend who found gardening could boost her wellbeing. Greatest benefits of becoming a gardener The amazing benefits of gardening The awesome power of the garden

So, lay on your lounger, sit on your deckchair, sprawl on your garden bench, swing in your hammock, lay in the grass.

Whatever you do, relax and enjoy your garden. That’s my advice to you.

I can recommend two books that helped my recovery. I still dip into them now.

One book is Mindful thoughts for gardeners, sowing seeds of awareness by Clea Danann. A lovely little book that I carried around with me in the garden. There are twenty five bite size chapters and one of my favourites is called “Seeds: Promises and Hopes” The wording “a pile of seeds invokes a giddy excitement” sums up my feelings entirely. https://amzn.to/3o8kmwi

The other book that has been hugely helpful is Gardening for mind, body and soul, how to nurture your well-being with nature by Annie Burdick. Another gem of a book for a gardener or anyone who may wish to start. The book has some beautiful photographs and is split into different topics. Gardening for physical health, gardening for the senses and gardening for mental and spiritual wellness.
A practical and inspiring book. https://amzn.to/3o6CCWR

This blog is a participant in Amazon’s Associate’s Program. If you click on one of these links, and make a purchase I may receive a commission, at no additional cost to you.

To see all my updates as they happen, please entre your email address below and press the subscribe button.