“How often do I wander off the well-worn, familiar path?”
Last year, I guided a senior leadership team through a 3-hour forest bathing experience. The CEO uttered this question during the sharing circle in between the invitations I offered them.
As this leader let us into his experience, he got more animated. “I just decided to walk off into the woods. I had to crouch low to go under the branches, crunching leaves, and noticing how it got darker the farther into the trees I went. It felt a bit like I was breaking the rules and that felt exhilarating.” He finished with a big smile.
When you’re leading a large, growing organization, rules matter. Systems and structure serve a purpose.
But people aren’t organizations.
And while systems and structure can help us get work done, there’s also a time for stomping around in the woods like a kid. For exploring. For unplugging from technology and going outside and doing things. Or going outside and doing nothing.
An Environmental Health and Preventative Medicine study showed “forest bathing” (also known as Shinrin-yoku in Japan) has positive effects on people, including reducing blood pressure, improving our immune function, and helping to alleviate depression. All of this adds up to improved mental health.
Even more exciting, spending time in nature has significant benefits for leaders.
Spending time away from the input of others allows your own creative thoughts to step forward. Looking for innovative, creative solutions? Go outside and see what Nature might offer you as you explore textures and fractals and sounds and smells.
Is business feeling stale, conventional, and same-same? You might see new ideas or ways of working reveal themselves in the variety of birds, trees, and flowers.
In business, you’ll gain a strategic advantage when you can soar above the issues and “see” with the clarity of a hawk.
You’ll “hear” and identify opportunities sooner than others when you listen with “deer ears” in all directions.
And your ability to feel a shift in temperature or temperament is a superpower worth developing during the practice of sit spot, where you’ll “sense” what’s happening all around you.
And the CEO I mentioned at the beginning? He’s leading two thriving organizations full of people dedicated to the mission of preserving land and water for people to enjoy. He regularly sits out at the pond on one of the campuses or wanders off into the forest, gathering new insights and ideas for the businesses as he goes.
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Curious about a forest bathing experience for your leadership team? I offer An Outside Perspective (TM) experience for 3 hours of seeing, hearing, and experiencing the benefits of incorporating a more powerful and focused regenerative leadership mindset into business. Simply reach out and we’ll have have a chat.
Warmly,
Angie