Caring for plants offers more than just health benefits and aesthetic value. It promotes mindfulness, focus, intuition and empathy, even in small ways.
The Limits of Human Perception
As humans, our senses constantly receive information from the environment, but to avoid overload, two forms of deletion occur: cerebral and physical.
The brain, through - mostly unconscious training - learns to ignore a wide range of data. Equally, our eyes have a limited range, preventing us from seeing in the dark or ultraviolet colours. Our hearing is limited to sounds below 20,000 cycles per second, and touch perception varies across the skin.
Despite these limitations, trusting sensory feedback can bypass the brain's information deletion, which provides access to a whole new range of non-verbal vocabulary, allowing us to be fully in the moment and intuitive.
As resourceful humans, we're always looking for new and innovative ways to improve ourselves, and taking a coaching approach to plants can help us do just that.
The Benefits of Plant Coaching
Plants can bring a calming presence to our environment and help us be more mindful of our habits. Caring for plants requires us to slow down and pay attention to their unspoken needs, which can expand our ability to pick up on subtle cues and encourage us to be more curious.
Plants not only impact our physical environment but also have a profound effect on our mental health. They can provide us with a sense of purpose and responsibility, and studies have shown that negative ions found in plants, water, and sunlight can positively affect our overall well-being. Reducing stress, increasing motivation, improving our mood, and leading to a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
When we're searching for the perfect plant pot for example, our minds automatically enter a subconscious focusing game. Attuned to filtering information prioritised by the individual while discarding irrelevant information.
Consciously training our brain to recognise things that align with our interests and desires can have a ripple effect thought our lives, leading to increased innovation and resourcefulness.
Life Skills Taught by Plant Coaching
In addition to promoting creativity, plants can also teach us essential life skills such as patience, observation, and mindfulness. Taking a step back to assess and respond to their needs, instead of reacting impulsively, can help them thrive.
This practice serves as a reminder to be more self-aware of our actions and reflect on our current state of mind. Whether we are attentive, distracted, caring, or something else entirely. A skill of noticing 'where' we are when we do things.
The Joy of Plant Coaching
And let's not forget the joy that plants can bring to our lives. There's something special about watching a plant grow and thrive under our care, and satisfaction of being able to share seedling with friends and strangers.
So, if you're looking for a new way to improve your focus, creativity, and mindfulness, consider taking a coaching approach to plants. Not only will you add some colours, shapes, patterns and fragrances to your home, but you'll also be training your mind to be more present and attentive to the world around you.