It’s a fact. One way for you to chill in your workspace is to enjoy the natural outdoors as much as you can. If you’re a workaholic, you’re notorious for spending inordinate amounts of time working indoors. Scientists say outdoor time is the ticket to revitalizing your health. Just twenty minutes a day in a park or natural setting raises and sustains your energy level and recalibrates a fatigued brain. If that’s not possible, a view of Mother Nature from a window — scenes of wooded areas, water, sunsets, wildlife, or parks— can lower your heart rate and respiration and relax your muscles. 

Consider taking five-minute strolls outside during the workday or up and down a flight of stairs in bad weather. Studies show that you perform better at work after a walk in the woods rather than along a busy street. 

So find a park or have lunch in a natural setting. Sit by a fountain or go to a zoo when you have a break. Feel the breeze on your face, notice the colors and smells of leaves and flowers, pay attention to chirping crickets, warbling birds, or rushing water.

Excerpt from #Chill: Turn Off Your Job and Turn On Your Life with permission from the author and publisher.

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Author(s)

  • Bryan Robinson, Ph.D.

    Journalist, psychotherapist, and Author of 40 books.

    Bryan Robinson, Ph.D.

    Bryan Robinson, Ph.D. is a professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, psychotherapist in private practice, and award-winning author of two novels and 40 nonfiction books that have been translated into 15 languages. His latest books are CHAINED TO THE DESK IN A HYBRID WORLD: A GUIDE TO WORK-LIFE BALANCE (New York University Press, 2023)#CHILL: TURN OFF YOUR JOB AND TURN ON YOUR LIFE (William Morrow, 2019), DAILY WRITING RESILIENCE: 365 MEDITATIONS & INSPIRATIONS FOR WRITERS (Llewellyn Worldwide, 2018). He is a regular contributor to Forbes.com, Psychology Today, and Thrive Global. He has appeared on 20/20, Good Morning America, The CBS Early Show, ABC's World News Tonight, NPR’s Marketplace, NBC Nightly News and he hosted the PBS documentary "Overdoing It: How To Slow Down And Take Care Of Yourself." website: https://bryanrobinsonphd.com.