The other week, my niece, Vivienne, slept over at my house. Whenever she comes over, she always asks if we can go to the little playground in my neighborhood so she can swing and go down the slide. As we walk there, we usually point out things along the way; birds we hear, neighborhood pets we see, and pretty flowers and trees. She loves to look at all the different types and colors of flowers that are blooming. It might have something to do with the fact that her mommy (my sister, Jess) always has flowers in the house and does floral arrangements for weddings. On this last walk, we literally stopped and smelled the roses... like every single rose bush. It made me laugh because of that common phrase that we have all heard or used in life. If you have not ever heard this expression before, when someone tells you to "stop and smell the roses" they mean that you should "relax; take time out of one's busy schedule to enjoy or appreciate the beauty of life." (Wiktionary definition).
It really did make me smile to smell the roses. Whenever I take walks, I am in my own little world in my head - listening to all the birds chirping, looking at how pretty the clouds are, and admiring all of the varieties of flowers, bushes and trees. Nature is so pretty and God created such a beautiful planet for us to live on. As I was looking up the formal definition of the phrase on Google, I found an article that talks about research that a professor from Rutgers did about thankfulness, appreciation and how they impact our overall happiness. (You can find the article here). I don't know that there will ever be a way to get concrete results for a study like that, but I do think it helps lift our spirits. There have been times where my mood has been very low and I have sat outside on my front porch or back patio and being in the stillness, feeling the breeze, watching the sunset and having that time to just be still inevitably makes me feel better.
On the flip side of this, there have also been times when I have "counted my blessings" and tried to focus on the things I have in life to be grateful for, and I still feel down. I don't know why it seems to work sometimes, and other times, not so much. If only the solution for all depression and anxiety was just to slow down and spend time peacefully outside. On my morning drive to work, I like to start my day by thanking God for my many blessings - a house, a car, 2 kitties, an easy drive to work, etc. Even if I'm in a bad mood, I still make myself do this. I also have heard that there are people who keep gratitude journals. I know it's not easy to quickly cure depression, anxiety or bad days, but as we get in to summer and the warmer months, try to take time to get stop and smell the roses. See if it can make you smile and lift your mood a bit. 😊🌹🌷🌸🌺🌼💐
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