A STEP BEYOND OUR COMFORT ZONES - WEEK 1

For a long time now, I have been struggling with not doing much about the earth we are destroying. Who has the time to save the earth, right? Who has time to wash the milk container before recycling it? Besides if I am the only one doing this, it is not going to matter.

So I’m here today to do the research on behalf of myself to understand how I can walk lighter on this earth. Each week I will share my findings on a particular topic here.

I invite you all to join me in this effort.

Walking Ligthly Environmental Campaign Movie

“When we come together for a purpose in peace, our power becomes larger than the sum of our individual powers which is an outcome of a feeling of togetherness. Here is my sculpture "Power of Harmony" with the same statement.

  

Day 1

This week I continue talking about why we should spend less time on computers and more time in nature. It has been shown that being in nature leads to happiness and environmental sustainability.

The sea, mountains, alpine meadows, trees

welcoming, smart and balanced

and yet taken for granted..

Please join me this week to learn about how nature can heal us, increase our self-esteem and reduce stress and frustration. During the following weeks I will post suggestions on how we can all together walk lighter within this beautiful nature. 

Day 2

CONNECT WITH NATURE TO BE HAPPIER AND MORE SUSTAINABLE– EVEN IN YOUR OWN GARDEN

It is unfortunate that we all have to spend most of our time in front of screens. It is hard for me some mornings to go for a short walk in the neighborhood before starting my work day.  However when I do, I come back feeling lighter and calmer.

According to a study from 2012 connection with nature leads to happiness and a more sustainable life. 

Day 3

SPEND TIME IN NATURE TO REDUCE DEPRESSION

It is despairing to think that our children prefer to sit in front of a bleak screen believing in the make-belief characters of the video games or reporting on snap-chat.

In his book Last Child in the Woods:Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, Richard Louv shows that lack of nature is the main cause of depression, ADD and obesity in today’s wired generation.

Day 4

LIMITING OUR CHILDREN'S EXPOSURE TO SMARTPHONES AND HAVE THEM BE IN NATURE 

I will be posting about the effects of smartphones and social media on kids during the next couple days. This is so important for me, I can't say enough about it.

Today's super-connected teens are less happy and less prepared for adulthood than previous generations" says Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University. In her article, Twenge shows that after 2010, teens who spend more time on digital devices are more likely to report mental-health issues than those who spend time on non-screen activities. 

Day 5

KIDS FEELING HOPELESSNESS IS A RESULT OF SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME ON SMARTPHONES 

Twenge reports in her 2017 study that kids who spend three hours or more on smartphones or other electronic devices are 34% more likely to suffer at least one suicide-related behavior-including feeling hopelessness than kids who use devices two hours or less a day. Five or more hours of usage result in 48% suicide-related outcome.

Day 6

MEDIA MULTITASKING RESULTS IN SMALLER GRAY MATTER DENSITY 

Media multitasking, rapidly switching between texting, social media and other smartphone-based apps results in performing worse on cognitive control tasks and exhibiting more socio-emotional difficulties and smaller gray matter density in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a region involved in emotion processing and decision making per a study from 2014.

Day 7

SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT REDUCES EMPATHY

As summarized in this article, social media engagement has been found to trigger the “mentalizing" network or seeing the world through a social lens. The prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that engages in social interaction, creates empathy to other people’s thoughts and feelings, and help us make judgements about other people. The fact that social media sites engage the prefrontal cortex could be a reason for the compulsive use of the social media.

The prefrontal cortex is also the area of decision making and is still growing during adolescence. Given the plasticity of the neural connections of the human brain, the portions that are used constructively, continue to grow and develop, while those that are misused, would grow in unhealthy ways. While the use of the prefrontal cortex in creative endeavors would hardwire the cells and connections that are associated with creativity, passive social networking could result in loss of creativity.