Living in London is an extremely fun and intense existence. You’ve got places to be and people to see. The city feels like it is moving at 100mph 24/7. Once you are acclimatised to this pace of life it can be really easy to fall into its rhythm.
I often enjoy walking through parts of it or riding the tube observing how many people are present compared to how many people are on their phones. It’s a fun game to play when you find yourself in a minority of people who are present and aware of those around them.
The amazing parks around the city are great escapes which many use to break from the sprawling urban environments to seek nature and a bit of peace.
Being situated in West London I get the joys of spending time in Brompton Cemetery and Hyde Park the majority of the time and more recently I've found myself seeking out time there a lot more.
There comes a point where the intensity of the city and the so called rat race can become quite overwhelming and too much. The idea of getting up, exercising in a windowless room, then working 8 hours a day and returning to your flat or home becomes a bit too monotonous.
The desire to enjoy wide, open and wild expanses grows and the desire to escape the city for a weekend or longer becomes a need.
I am privileged enough to be able to escape to see either my Mum or Dad who both reside outside London in the countryside. This means I regularly get the opportunity to go home for a weekend or two.
Whilst I am with them my lifestyle changes quickly. I go from being inside for about 80% of my day to being inside only 50%. With my Mum I regularly get up early to walk 5km with her to start the day and some days we do it again in the evening. My lunch breaks are taken walking around the garden or sitting in the sun and on some evenings I escape to the golf course to enjoy an hour or two of golf.
The core activities of my day shift towards the outdoors and with that, I get to connect to nature and almost meditate in the peaceful and living countryside around me.
It’s the ever yearning calls of Mother Nature, that we all have, that I let drive me home and out to connect with life in its purest form.
Grounding:
Many of you may have heard of the term ‘grounding’, it is a practice where you go and walk on the grass barefoot to connect with the earth.
The reason to do this is to connect your body back to the frequency of the earth in which it has been suggested it stabilises the physiology at the deepest levels, reduces inflammation, pain, and stress, improves blood flow, energy, and sleep, and generates greater well-being.
There is more and more emerging science supporting the benefits of this and evidence to suggest that grounding may lead to improved blood flow and reduced blood viscosity, which can lower the risk of cardiovascular disease.
When it's talked about I am sure of lot of people won’t be fully convinced of it, but here’s why I think there are sceptics.
We have become so disconnected from nature and how it can help us more than we can help it that the idea seems absurd. We’ve become lost in the lives we have built where we chase money and personal growth over connection and love and we forget the most basic forms of living.
The fact of the matter is, we have become disconnected. Think of the most basic things such as shoes. We most likely wear shoes 95% of our time awake with the majority of our shoes having rubber or leather soles.
Because of these soles, our bodies are not regularly reconnected to the ground. Combine that with the fact we have concreted a large proportion of the world and voila, we’ve disconnected ourselves from the earth for the majority of our lives in the most fundamental way.
It is now a conscious effort to go and ground as opposed to our ancestors who walked barefoot all their lives.
When I came home a few months ago, I started to practise grounding by walking around my mother's garden and lying in the grass for 10 to 15 minutes.
Why? I don't know. I’d seen a video about it and realised the importance of it. One thing it does do though is give me time to observe, connect and refresh my mind and body, and I certainly feel a sense of peace from its effects after I am done.
Creativity:
I saw a study a few years back talking about the impacts of nature on creativity. It talked about how offices with views of nature compelled people to be far more creative than those who looked at man-made things and structures.
Just looking at the natural world can stimulate your mind to be more creative.
The natural and calming presence of nature gives people the ability to slow down, reflect and get inspired. It is quite meditative walking through the countryside just listening. It allows us to reflect and restore our attention to the present world around us.
For me, I never feel more alive and creative than I do when I am staying by the sea. The ever-changing landscapes inspire my mind and the simple way of living that goes alongside it helps me relax, and reset my body. The continuous sound of waves and the gusts of wind are like music. As a dabbling artist, it gets my creative juices flowing.
Being able to escape back to the countryside is a great blessing to have to reconnect with my creativity. The ability to pause from the chaos of London is a blessing to have and one that allows me to see a different perspective once I am out.
In September I shall be heading to Portugal to walk the Portuguese Camino from Porto to Santiago de Compostela. I am extremely excited about this. I did the Spanish version of this walk 10 years ago and what I enjoy most about it is the complete sense of freedom you experience as you walk from town to town each day.
Being in new environments can be just as inspiring and with the Portuguese Camino, I will be walking north along the coastline heading north through the lesser-known towns and fishing villages that call this coastline home.
There’s something about looking across landscapes and seascapes and the ability to observe a view miles around that is so captivating.
I expect to return home with a new lease of energy to ride off for the remainder of the year.
I am Will Flindall, host of the Valley of Outlaws Podcast where I speak to those who have decided to take control of their life and follow a passion or instinct.
If you feel like you could be getting more from your life, then maybe one of the conversations I’ve had with the Outlaws might help you kickstart a change.
Peace x
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