HALLE, Belgium — Gilles Gui was looking for the magical purple bluebells that raise their heads each spring under the budding beech leaves of the Hallerbos forest, an annual explosion of color that draws crowds from around the world. <\/p>\n
And in these times full of stress and anxiety<\/a> about wars, economic threats and other tensions, he found something else too: a sense of tranquility.<\/p>\n \u201cI notice that there\u2019s a lot of silence in my head when I\u2019m done,\u201d Gui said. \u201cYeah, it helps me keep some peace in my mind, really just take my mind away from everything that\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n Spending time in nature, experts have long said, can be a balm in troubled times.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a stroll through a city park to a day spent hiking in the wilderness, exposure to nature has been linked to a host of benefits<\/a>, including improved attention, lower stress, better mood, reduced risk of psychiatric disorders, and even upticks in empathy and cooperation,\u201d a 2020 article of the American Psychological Association said.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are extraordinary times,\u201d said Ignace Glorieux, a sociology professor at Brussels University, adding that the under-30 generation in particular is under pressure.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is also the generation maybe that suffered most from the COVID crisis,\u201d<\/a> Glorieux said. \u201cAnd now they come into a situation where there\u2019s a lot of international uncertainty. So especially this group, maybe more than (the older) generation, is suffering from that and feels very uncertain about their future.\u201d <\/p>\n Gui, 26, knows what Glorieux is talking about. \u201cI do know of people my age who are worried and also with financial situations going on<\/a>, who try to keep level heads, but it\u2019s very hard for them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n During the pandemic, the bluebell woods were closed off for fear that throngs of people would make it a hive of transmission instead of a haven of peace. Restrictions kept some parks under seal and mandated masks in some others.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a difficult period for everyone,\u201d said Mark Demesmaeker, a former member of the European Parliament, gardening enthusiast and city councilor in Halle, where he has walked the woods for decades. Now, at least, nature is there to welcome those with anxious minds.<\/p>\n \u201cThese bluebells \u2014 but in other times of year as well, walking here, the forest valleys, the wildlife, the forest streams \u2014 you know, they work into your mind all year round. And it\u2019s really a big green hug that you get here,\u201d Demesmaeker said.<\/p>\n That hug from nature is just about everywhere right now. Japan is awash in a sea of cherry blossoms,<\/a> which mesmerize people around the world. Bluebell season also coincides with the prime tulip season in the Netherlands. The renowned Keukenhof garden<\/a> there has become a playground for influencers and those seeking that ultimate selfie.<\/p>\n The Keukenhof and the Dutch tourism board suggest good spots to \u201cmake your image come alive.\u201d<\/p>\n To Glorieux, that’s where 21st-century humans push it too far.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to be busy all the time, even in our leisure time,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to perform.”<\/p>\n Instead, he advised, \u201cFocus! If you go out walking, focus on walking. If you go out jogging, focus only on jogging.\u201d<\/p>\n Such advice was not wasted on Philippe Thiry, 64, a southern Belgian recently retired and ready to embrace the rest of his life. He had no phone as he set off in the sunshine to look for bluebells.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to use it here because I\u2019m here just to relax,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, just to see the flowers and to see, to listen to the birds.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be disconnected.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HALLE, Belgium — Gilles Gui was looking for the magical purple bluebells that raise their heads each spring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4317],"tags":[25815,2665,3907,25813,8616,25814,4179,105,388,4326,218,18291,4920,16,15,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-47073","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-25815","9":"tag-anxiety","10":"tag-article","11":"tag-botany","12":"tag-climate-and-environment","13":"tag-forests","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-lifestyle","17":"tag-medication","18":"tag-mental-health","19":"tag-plants","20":"tag-stress","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom","23":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114393934908595314","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}