“We spend most of our time seated, looking only a few feet away at computer screens or across a room. Our field of vision is narrowly limited. We rarely move. The only time we do move is to get coffee, relieve ourselves, change offices and enter or leave work. Many of our illnesses today can be traced to lack of movement, sitting for too long and recycled boxed air. We are surrounded by artificial light and the constant hum of computers and machines. Our day to day sees little actual change in environment and habit. People tend to get colds and flu more frequently in winter because we ARE indoors even more. We need to change this to be healthier. The good news is we can!

Humans are a very different breed today. We live in ways that we have yet to really adapt to or evolve into.This one of the major reasons we are sick a lot. We are not doing what we were intended to do. Early humans spent the bulk of their day moving while foraging, hunting or later working the fields. Our day should be spent moving just as much as they did but it isn’t. Still, it is important for us to try to get as much movement in each day as we possibly can. The hour at the gym isn’t enough. Move more, walk more, stand up more while at work if you are able.

Our focus and field of vision, our peripheral vision are stilted, narrowed and boxed in because we rarely look far off. Most of the day we only really look and see a few feet in front of us. We don’t realize how our visual field has shifted narrowly living in urban settings. We need to shift our focus and to expand it. We can’t do this indoors. We need to get outdoors and look far off into the distance. Get in touch with the world around you. Leave your box home, your box office, your box gym and get out of doors and into nature

By walking outdoors we can actually enlarge what we are able to take in and notice. This ability is great for problem solving, finding solutions, memory and improved concentration. Walk, looking far off into the distant horizon, because when you do you expand your field of vision. Set your gaze far away. Eventually, you will notice everything around you begins to open up and you will see and experience so much more. It is healthy to do this and it is healthy to get outdoors and walk. An hour of uninterrupted casual walk is best for you. Keep your focus out there, far away, on the horizon. Adjust it only for safety. Don’t walk where there are cars or lots of traffic or dangerous pathways.

Do this daily and eventually you will notice your ability to expand and narrow your focus as needed increasing. You will discover greater flexibility in your thinking and creativity. You actually open up and utilize new neural pathways. The benefits are numerous and delightful! You may even notice yourself thinking and feeling healthier.

Consider what is being done to our children. They are forced to sit in desks all day. They must listen to adequate orators (at best usually). Their playground time, recess and gym activities have all been curtailed over the decades in favor of test scores and book learning. Their school lunches are processed foods high in sugar. They rarely move during the day and they are fed poor quality processed products.

Instead of allowing them to do what their young bodies and minds are made for we force them to be still. When they want to move or express themselves because they are repressed or oppressed for hours then ‘the powers that be’ want to medicate them because they fidget and have difficulty paying attention. The reason they can’t sit still IS because they have not moved enough. Forcing someone to remain still causes the desire and need to move. Attention will be there when the physical needs are taken care of. We can attend better once our other needs have been attended to!

They should be able to move in the classroom. More exercise, more play, more gym is needed NOT less. Let them play until tired but not exhausted and then help them learn. They would learn so much better and easier. You would see most ‘learning disabilities’ vanish. NO one, unless severely neurologically impaired, has learning disabilities. Learning is what we do naturally. Kids and adults need to spend more time out in the world and less time in boxed rooms sitting.

Much of our learning comes from physical moving. It is the wiring of the brain and body. Contralateral movements or those which cross over the midline of the body are necessary. Crawling and moving the body as we did was very important for brain development. In this particular case less is NOT more. We need more movement for our bodies and brains to be adequately stimulated and healthy. It isn’t just about the cardio-vascular effects it is about the overall effects on the human. We can’t restrict our minds, our vision, our bodies, we can’t limit everything about what it is to be human, to be young, and still expect to have good and healthy results. SOMETIMES natural is better. Sometimes more is better. Just as sometime it is not.

Wisdom means knowing and implementing the best choices that have the most positive effects.

Nature overflows with an alive positive energy. Get out outdoors and connect with this positive energy. It radiates from the earth, it comes from the sky and from every living thing. There is great commotion in nature and a great stillness. Stop and listen. Stop and take a moment to enjoy it. To imbibe it. To reconnect with it. You will feel better, you will think better. You will relax, let go, and allow more. You will feel more peaceful and at one. It is a healthy and positive practice.

If it is cold outside, bundle up and go for a walk. You can do this. If it is warm enough, where you are, walk barefoot whenever you can. Feel the soil, the earth. Lie down and feel the warmth of the ground. Reconnect with the earth. Listen to the sound of the wind as it moves through the leaves or over the grasses. It is simple. Get back in touch with nature. Sit by a stream and let go. Take a hike. Roll down a hill. Skip. Relax, refresh, walk, witness, observe, smell, listen. Get some sun! It actually IS good for you to get some sun. Do this often. The better you feel the better you are able to feel. Become alive again!” Rex Sikes

Make today special. Do something wonderful for yourself and another person!

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