To celebrate mental health awareness week, I'm sharing a personal experience each day of things that help me to gain perspective and create balance in my busy life, in the hope that it encourages others to use what is available around them, to make the most of this year's theme - Connect with Nature. 7 days, 7 experience.

You may well share some of my top 7 yourself... or you may have favourites of your own - please share them with me if you do - so that we can come together to help each other! xx

#1 Fresh Air - It just takes a handful deep, calm, purposeful breaths of fresh air outdoors (whatever the weather) to make a real difference to my head!


#2 Sunrise - I absolutely love a good sunrise! I'm in absolute awe of the spectacular scale and magnificent impact of this daily event, bringing energy and light to all our lives... so much so that I have become a bit obsessed about photographing it from my back garden!



#3 Birdsong - How lucky am I to be awoken by birdsong most mornings? The dawn chorus around our way really does ring out... and it is a fantastic reminder of the many other species we share our planet with. I love listening to them all chattering back and forth... what an amazing natural orchestra they make!



#4 Trees - I find real personal comfort in trees. I love the grandeur, strength and elegance they transmit, the way they change and translate the seasons through the year - and the sounds they make in the wind and weather... they are truly a calming and grounding force for good!



#5 Bees - We need bees! I find their ecosystem of pollination, which is so vital to us humans, absolutely fascinating. I also love that they are a natural temperature check on our environment as a whole... and if we are ever in any doubt about the state of our world, all we have to do is listen to the bees... they know!



#6 Clouds - Since my boys were very little, we have chilled out by laying down and watching the clouds float by, in absolute awe of them! We love that sometimes they glide by slowly - and other times they scamper away before we've had a chance to appreciate them fully... and there's always a different thought to lose yourself in!



#7 Purple - My week of sharing ways I love to connect with nature would not be complete, without a mention of purple! It's my absolute favourite colour - and I never cease to be amazed by just how many places in nature purple is found naturally... numerous flowers, leaves, grasses, heather topped hills, sunrises and sunsets are my top picks to enjoy!



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