Are You a Prisoner?

Noted Feng Shui author and friend, Nancy Wydra, writes: “For most of human history we lived not just in close association with nature but outdoors, in direct contact with it. Survival required full use of all of the senses. Early humans were able to identify poisonous plants by smell, discern by the sound of movement which animals lurked amid foliage, and use their vocal cords to identify themselves to others and to send signals of distress. Human beings evolved in direct response to their environment. Scientists theorize, for example, that standing upright was a response to the need to see faster predators from a safe distance.

Premodern human beings not only responded to the natural environment but also thrived in it. The sounds of birds, wind, and scurrying animals; the fragrance of grasses and flowers and the scents of animals were woven into the fabric of eachday while humans performed life-sustaining tasks. The warming sunlight encouraged the production of serotonin (a neurochemical that encourages feelings of optimism and happiness) and injected vitamin D into a recipient's life force. Nature provided a multi-tiered sensorial infusion that is obliterated indoors.

In sharp contrast, life today in spent mostly indoors. Statistics reveal that the majority of Americans spend less than one hour outside every day. Even if we do nothing else to help our lives, spending more time outside will contribute to our physical and emotional well-being. The National Institutes of Health report that if each of us would walk twenty minutes to work and then home again at day's end, the general population's health would improve significantly.