The Powers of Flowers: Stress, Image, and Brain Improvements

Flowers are drawn with nature's artistic hand across a landscape canvas. With bright colors flowers offer something more than a beautiful landscape but a tantalizing feast for our eyes and food for our soul. There is something inherent in flowers that brighten our day and help us think about how beautiful the wild can really be.

Flowers are a powerful representation of emotion and beauty. They are so powerful that those who hold onto a bunch of flowers seem to have a positive aura about them. Consider a study of male and female hitchhikers holding onto flowers. Men holding flowers got a ride by both sexes more than either women with or without flowers (Gueguen, Meineri & Stefan, 2012).

Flowers seem to make us more approachable and provide a trait of aesthetic appreciation. Those that can find beauty in this world seem to carry with them traits that include empathy, kindness, and sensitivity. There is no doubt why artists, poets, and painters love flowers.

It is also beneficial to consider the stress and brain enhancements that come with flowers. According to research people who take a stroll in nature have higher brain functioning and lower levels of stress (As cited in Green, 2011). The same applies to those who look at pictures of flowers and destress from all of the days worries.

With all the benefits of flowers I am concerned that more people don't find them of interest. Putting a few pictures on your office or home wall will certainly allow for a more artistic feel to spruce up your environment while reducing stress levels. Go for a walk if you can or put some pictures of flowers on your office wall.

I engage in some hobby artistic photography and painting as one way to keep in touch with and study nature. The imagination this work entails offers cognitive flexibility and innovative creativity hard to find in other activities. If you are interested in purchasing a picture you may do so on the Creative Works page or you may buy related products like mugs or cell phone cases on Fine Art America.

Creative Works

Fine Art America

Gueguen, N. Meineri, Sebastien, Stefan, J. (2012).  "Say it with Flowers"...to Female Drivers: Hitchhikers Holding Flowers and Driver Behavior. North American Journal of Psychology, 14 (3).

Green, J. (2011). Research Shows Nature Helps With Stress. Dirt. Retrieved http://dirt.asla.org/2011/09/08/research-shows-nature-helps-with-stress/

Outdoor Photography-Pictures for the Soul

The Outdoor Sights at Seagrove Park in Del Mar

Seagrove Park is a small but still magnificent example of coast living. As a park, you will see many visitors flying kites, walking down the beach, gazing at the ocean, walking among the flowers, or doing yoga under the ocean sky. There are plenty of benches and places to sit and ponder life as we know it. It is a small refreshment from our busy weeks. 

Seagrove Park also offers the ability to host events, weddings, and other happenings. It is a well manicured park with no perceptible decay or trash. Walkways are unbroken and well maintained. On warm days you may find surfers and beach goers enjoy a few rays. 

Park Management

(858) 755-1524
lrogers@delmar.ca.us

 

 

 

The Business and Health Benefits of Hanging Pictures of Flowers

Flowers and nature help us to connect to our lives before the advent of modernity. It helps us think about a simpler time and nostalgic world. Not that this time was better or worse than it is today but that it was a period when life was simple. People enjoyed the aesthetic beauty of watching wildlife and artistic paint laden within flowers. 

When flowers and wildlife pictures are placed within the workplace it can reduce stress and increase productivity. Stress is one of the most profound killers within the country and a few more flowers, trees, and landscape pictures are unlikely to do you any damage. We may have lost the art of appreciating nature for nature’s sake. 

Some people place pictures of nature’s artistry around their workplace. Some put them within waiting rooms to reduce customer anxiety, others put them in their office to maintain focus, while still others like to give a more open view of tight space. Using pictures of nature can increase the overall image and impression of your business. 

Image is part impression. Customers scan your office to determine both the nature of the person who is sitting in it as well as the business itself. Having pictures of flowers and wildlife helps prompt this person to understand that you think beyond your office. You appreciate something more than work and money. It can provide a positive impression of both you and your business as having depth and trustworthiness.