Our cultural habit is stay inside 93% of our time. The automatic part of our brain, the basal ganglia, likes it this way. We automatically opt to be inside. This requires no brain energy. We have developed the inside habit. It is easy. We like that way. My blog post below provides more detail.
How Do We Change That 93%?
How do we change that 93% inside time?
What if we are following the science that says we need to get outside to get the health benefits of tree aerosols?
The Power of Habit
As Charles Duhigg in the New York Times Bestseller “The Power of Habit” tells us habits are not as simple as they appear.
Duihigg says that once we have them, habits may not be forever.
How we eat, sleep, talk to loved ones, and stay inside are all habits.
These are how we unthinkingly spend our time, attention, and money.
We Can Chose Our Habits
Duhigg says we can chose our habits — once we know how to do this.
All we have to do is to decide to add a habit. This is the beginning of habit change.
Even busy and overwhelmed people can develop more outside habits.
BJ Fogg at Standford University runs neuroscience labs on this. (There are some copy cat mini habit books out on line, but Fogg is the behavorial scientist with the chops.)
Fogg is the original “Tiny Habits” guru. For his researched recipe see my article Three Easy Hacks to Create Outdoor Habits”
When Fogg does publish his books on Tiny Habits they will change the world.
If we apply Fogg’s tiny habit recipe we see right away that we can do this.
Getting the outside habit does not have any rules.
You can step outside for a minute and it will shift your thinking. Sit or stand under a tree.
All we have to do is start.
All we have to do is decide to start — and start small.
After that everything is flexible.
We have planted the seeds of our outside habit.
Prompts I use to get me Outside
What do I look forward to/like outside?
What is my simplest outside pleasure?
What do I like outside, that I did not have a year ago?
What is a recent outside memory?
What is an outdoor accomplishment I am proud of?
What is a favourite group of trees or tree?
What happens to me when my emotions are on a roller coaster and I go outside?
Outsiders Support: Website and Facebook Group
I started my Treesmendus.com website to help me remember the proven scientific benefits of being outside close to trees. Check it out here https://treesmendus.com.
When you subscribe to this you are invited to join our facebook group Ditch Inside for Outside. This is a happy little space where we share our own “outsides” from all around the world. We encourage each other to go outside. We help each other to get there even when we are lost, tired, overwhelmed and unhappy.
Press on this green link to join us.
Until next time, say it wth me “Healthy Tree, Healthy Me.”
Verla
I love this “tiny habits” thing! It really makes it seem so much more achievable. Outside I go! Just for a minute, lol. 😉
Love this post!! I am always happier when I am outside and with nature.