The Joys of Gardening

Relaxation, delicious food, time with loved ones and fitness – this all sounds like a wonderful vacation at an inclusive resort.

However, whether you believe it or not, this could all be found, every week in a small and simple backyard garden. Did you know that gardening supplies a whole body workout, allows you to reap what you’ve sowed, and offers a chance to reconnect with your loved ones and nature?

An excellent way to spend some time in the outdoors, promote mental health, and boost physical exercise is as close to your garden. Why not your hand at growing pesticide-free veggies and fruits. At harvest time, you will have free Organic produce, all filled with health-promoting fiber, antioxidants, and that wonderful taste.

Be Smart
While gardening often means  working with your hands, it also puts your brain to work. In case you haven't thought about it yet, planning the layout of your garden, researching different plants, to find ones that thrive in different soils and climates takes creative thought. Also studying a few "best practice" gardening methods promote solution based thinking, and memory function as well.

Healthy Body and Mind
If you are what you eat, growing your own food can certainly make you feel better. This is because gardening enables you to choose only natural pest control methods  and organic fertilizers.  Instead of long stored, or warehouse ripened produce, you have the chance to harvest foods at their peak.

Just when the nutrients are at their highest. No more nutrient poor foods that were picked too early to allow for shipping, packing and delivery to stores. Of course, when you put the effort into selecting, growing and harvesting your own veggies and fruits, you are much more likely to eat more of them.

You Get Physical
No matter your age, gardening is a great way to increase physical activity. It can help to prevent falls among the elderly , by enhancing balance.  It can help to strengthen joints, muscles, and bones. Lessen lifestyle diseases like high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis, some cancers and more.

Apart from that, having 150 minutes of moderate to intensity aerobic activity on a weekly basis can have a huge effect on your life. That can be where gardening comes in. Compared to other activities you do every day, (which only involve your arms or legs), gardening makes use of the whole body as you move around planting, digging, watering and weeding. Its also important to recognise that, when you choose an activity that you  like, that fits conveniently into your lifestyle, you are more likely to do it.

Relax while Having Fun
Busy schedules of work and continuous use of electronic devices like smart-phones, often cause yet you to tune out the world around you. With gardening, you connect  to nature and to the rhythm of life. By forcing you to slow down, it assist you to live in the here and now, at least for a while. You might not have the time to take long walks in nature, but you can still spend a bit of time in your gardens.

Gardening can be a wonderful and enjoyable activity not just for you, but for the whole family as well. For most enjoyment simply equip yourself with a hat, gloves, and sturdy shoes, to beat the heat and avoid unwelcome insects. Be sure to stay hydrated too.

Get out in the garden! Boost your fitness, improve your diet and add value to your home all while enjoying some downtime, family time, or "me" time.

What Makes A Quality Life

Health, wealth and happiness.

Aren’t those the ingredients we have been told all our lives were required in order to have a quality life? Well, that may have been the perfect formula decades ago before workplaces became stressful and pressure started coming from all directions to outperform, live lavishly and drive the biggest car in the neighborhood.

But what about the rest of it? Let’s take a look at what it really means to have a quality life in today’s world and you may be surprised to learn that maybe you are on the right track after all.

1 – Health

This is a biggie. If you have bad health, not only will it impact your quality of life, it has many ripples that can affect the people around you. Health as far as we are concerned included both mental and physical shape. There are some conditions and diseases you can’t avoid completely if they are hereditary, however, you still have the power to make changes to your lifestyle that will add years to your life and improve the quality of your life.

The lifestyle changes that can improve your mental health will revolve around your daily environment. If your job, relationship, friends or life in general stresses you out to the point where you are sick, you need to make some changes. It may sound like a huge step to take, but if your health is being affected, you owe it to yourself to take that leap.

If you smoke, over eat or tend to be sick a lot, these things you can control. Again, if any habit or situation you are in causes you to be ill in some way, you need to make changes. Even light exercise can have a lot to do with your overall wellness. Once you start feeling good about yourself, your mental health improves. When that happens, you are more likely to make more changes to improve your life.

2 – Wealth

There was an interesting question posted in an online forum not long ago. It asked, “Would you prefer to be rich and miserable or poor and happy?” Times have changed so much in recent decades where it is very easy to get caught in the trap where you have no choice but to work long hours just to exist – not get ahead.

Riches, however, come in many forms and are not always in dollar signs. If you can live a quiet life with enough money to pay all your bills and still have a little bit left over each month, then possibly you have found the trick to enhancing your quality of life. If you make barely enough to cover your bills and have tons of debt, maybe you need to make some changes.

For many, the key here is balance. There is nothing wrong with having debts, it is what that debt is funding that matters. Debt to fund consumption spending is undesirable, but debt to fund Income producing assets may be desirable. After that, it’s how you manage the debts and keep your stress down, and your bank accounts improving that matters.

3 – Happiness

What you do in your free time has a lot to do with your quality of life. If you have few friends and no hobbies, chances are your life is not as fulfilling as you may think it is. When you fill your days with interaction with people you love or love to be around, it does something special. It fills your body with endorphins which make you happy.

We all have different activities that help us enjoy our lives. It could be fishing, reading, gardening, socializing or playing sports. It can be anything that you enjoy doing and enjoy sharing with others when the time is right. Even while you are developing your financial base,   you can still do things that make you feel good. For many that comes from giving back to their community. Volunteering is a great way to find happiness and it is healthy for you as well.

So What Makes A Quality Life?

Clearly, there are elements required in each person’s life in order to make it enjoyable and productive. The best part is that you can access these things yourself. You just need to determine what you need in your life to make it better. You are in control of your quality of life. Is it everything you hoped it would be, or do you need to make some changes?