It's nice to just go out in the river and sit on the rocks. There's always a dozen or so pigeons down at the water's edge hanging out. Yesterday I was sitting there, waiting for my eyes to adjust since I spend so much time looking at a screen. Watching the water, I realized just how much was there to see. I could focus on any area in my vision that was the size of a computer monitor, and find it filled with an amazing array of color, shape and movement. I wondered, what could be so interesting in that box of flickering pixels that it deserves so much more of my attention than this? I guess same question for the pages of ink I stare at for hours.
That night on the news they did a story where doctors are "prescribing" outdoors time. They said it demonstrably improves both mental and physical health, although they're unsure about the exact reasons. One hypothesis was that it resets our fight or flight response, which we can sometimes get stuck in with no outlet. Whatever the reason, I think they're on to something.
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