I grew up in a time of laying on your back on a summer's day and looking at clouds.
Yup. That was my childhood. Talking about what you saw in the outline of clouds.
After you located a possible creature or character the next step was to make up a story. Telling the story to your buddy, lazing about was half the fun. Explaining which specific cloud was the protangonist of your story was sure to insight giggles and the occasional debate. "That's no duck -- that's a castle on a mountain side!"
As I remember those good ol' days, I think it was highly acceptable to close your eyes and listen to the breeze as part of this stimulating activity. Maybe even slowing down your breathing a tad, hearing a calling bird or a croaking frog... yup that's how I grew up: daisy chains and cloud creatures.
I spent an afternoon recently rewinding through my childhood afternoons and playing make believe all over again. Turns out that its just as much fun to play as an adult as it was as a child. What did you see?
We're the adults in the equation. Let's see if we can encourage the children in our lives to 'unplug' from their plugs and screens.... get outside where there's lots of greens!! You know what they're calling it now? The way that I grew up? It has a name!
"GREEN THERAPY"
Turns out that they've proven that being outside -- surrounded by 'green' is good for you! It's been demonstrated to counteract some of the concerns of the alphabet soup of ADD/ADHD and combat sensory integration issues as well. Some circles call it eco-therapy and prescribe it for all manner of challenges including depression.
I guess we were just ahead of our time. Go ahead google 'GREEN THERAPY' and you'll be led to tons of articles and insight. This link is the first that came up in my search.
- So get outside.
- Look at the clouds.
- Slow down.
- Use your imagination!!!
