Post-modern pressures push human relationships into the sterile world of indoor, electronic interactions, worsening empathy and social skills and damaging relationships. Now that spring is here there is a simple and powerful way to feel better and transform our relationships. What is it?

Get outside! Spending time outside literally makes us healthier, happier and more loving in our human relationships. 

First, spending time outdoors makes us healthier. Fresh air is two to five times healthier than indoor air. Outside air is free of the toxic molds, allergens, carbon monoxide and fumes from chemicals that lurk inside buildings, leaving us feeling tired and sick. The Environmental Protection Agency has called indoor air one of the top environmental threats.

Second, spending time outside makes us happier and almost magically softens our heart to connect with each other. As our senses experience the interconnections that abound in the natural world, our hearts soften to reconnect with one another. The Lakota Native Americans teach that a heart turned away from growing and living things in nature will quickly harden towards humans. Similarly, Richard Louv, author of the excellent book, Last Child in the Woods, put it like this: “As we grow more separate from nature, we continue to separate from one another physically.”

So how do we increase our time outdoors with each other? Here are three ways you can start this week:

1. Take walks. Look for times when you might otherwise be sitting indoors doing minimally important things, such as watching TV or playing on the internet. Instead, invite someone you love to go for a walk around the block. 
2. Maximize your sensual connection with nature. Touch the grass, smell the flowers, gaze at the magnificent spectrum of colors and shades with vegetation and listen for the beautiful sounds of nature, such as the wind blowing or birds chirping. Pay special attention to the cycle of life, how some things are dying just as new growth is budding. 
3. Plan an outdoor adventure this summer. Trade national parks for amusement parks, camping for hotels and the beach for the mall.

Spring is here. It is time to deepen our human relationships by getting outdoors. Not only is it good for our bodies and our mood it is also great for our human connections.

Have a great week.