What is Fifteen Minutes?

by Rachel Kobin

Albert Einstein said, “Time only exists so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” Until recently, I took this time-is-just-a-construct attitude so seriously that I thought fifteen minutes was not enough time to do anything “worthwhile.” Fifteen minutes at a time, I started finding it harder and harder to accomplish anything. I’d venture a guess that you may have had similar experiences. I hope, by the time you’ve finished reading this short article—less than fifteen minutes, I promise—you will feel inspired the next time you have fifteen minutes to spare. 

 

What do you do if you have fifteen minutes before the kids must be picked up, the laundry is dry, or before a meeting? I normally play Words with Friends or Solitaire or stare at the wall. That staring at the wall time serves as a meditation of sorts. As far as Words with Friends and Solitaire go, as Bertrand Russell said, “The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” But most of us have teetered on the tightrope between the lofty enjoyment of our free time and the descent down to the punishing pavement of procrastination. 

 

I cannot claim I haven’t lost my balance and gone splat! into the pavement of procrastination recently. Hell, because I procrastinated months ago, I was late getting to work on marketing The Philadelphia Writing Workshop’s summer offerings and writing this piece for the newsletter. However, I am getting better slowly, bit by bit and step by step. 

 

In fact, it all started with steps. I read about a reputable medical study that found walking for fifteen minutes after meals steadies blood sugar more effectively than one long walk. So, I started walking for fifteen minutes after meals, which means walking around my house in bad weather. Boring? Yes, but fifteen goes by quickly, and music, podcasts, audiobooks, and calls with friends help a lot. 

 

Since last August, after ten years of no regular exercise, I’ve taken hundreds of fifteen-minute walks. I’ve added bodyweight workouts, more vegetables, and more water. I’ve lost weight and inches, and parts of my body now sit higher than they were. 

 

Most importantly, my attitude toward fifteen minutes has changed. Now I look at that construct—that chunk of time—as substantial. In fact, I started a new workshop called Daily Writing Prompts, where participants write to a prompt for fifteen minutes every day and then send what they’ve written to a partner who gives them only positive feedback. It’s amazing how much you write when you’re consistently at it for even fifteen minutes a day. 

 

What is fifteen minutes? It’s the beginning of the present time. A present to you. The gift is wrapped beautifully with bows and ribbons. Unwrap it and choose your next move. What will you do with it? Take a bath because you’ve been rushing through life without giving yourself a break? Fantastic. Buy yourself a Ukulele and start lessons on YouTube. Splendid. The possibilities are as unlimited as your imagination. Enjoy.

Rachel Kobin is the Founder and Director of the Philadelphia Writers’ Workshop. She has facilitated creative writing workshops and provided editing and coaching services since 2011. Read her most recently published poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction in the anthology, Through the Looking Glass: Reflections on Madness and Chaos Within. 

Funhouse Mirror Repair

by Brittiney George, BS, MST, ICI, CEIM 

The poem below is a love note generated from multitudes of conversations with myself and my clients and the struggle of thinking you need to be perfect in an imperfect world.  

Life can leave us feeling like we are looking at ourselves through a funhouse mirror.  Funhouse mirrors distort reality.  They shorten us, overextend us, pull us out of alignment and can leave us feeling unrecognizable sometimes even to ourselves.  

Maybe you have been caught in the funhouse mirror room and didn’t realize it.  

This poem is for you.  It’s for me.  It’s for all of us.  

Funhouse Mirror Repair 

by Brittiney George

I am not going to apologize for myself anymore.

Who I am.

What I wear.

How I look.

How much I feel.

The energy I have available.

That is the equivalent of amputating a piece of who I am to make you feel more whole.

I will assist you, but I will not amputate any part of myself for you.

I am meant to live.

I am meant to live well.

So are you, and that won't happen by taking a piece of me.

From this point forward, I choose to remain not perfect,

I choose to remain intact.

I align with the core of me.

My core’s reflection is clear and it refuses to be altered by any funhouse mirror.

Brittiney George, BS, MST, ICI, CEIM, is a Master Somatic Therapist and Movement Practitioner specializing in Transformative Touch.  She is also the creator of the online comic www.thisweekwithjoy.com.  Her areas of specialty include working with highly sensitive persons (HSP’s), and helping people find movement when they feel bogged down by life.  Contact Brittiney at 610-389-7866 or movebackintolife@gmail.com.  

Nature Heals

by Therese Daniels, LPC, Certified Nature Informed Therapist

My love for nature and the outdoors began in my childhood — climbing the trees of the local parks, playing hopscotch on the streets in my neighborhood, catching minnows in the nearby stream, and going on countless picnics and hikes with family members. I did not fully recognize the healing aspects of nature until adulthood; it wasn’t until then that I was able to look back and identify the numerous times nature had been an emotional healer for me. Three moments really stand out in my memory. The first time was on a hike with my aunt in the Poconos Mountains when I was nine years old.  The hike was known for having a big waterfall along the way, and waterfalls were my favorite. Well, I fell within the first 5 minutes of the hike and scraped my knee pretty badly. My Aunt offered to turn around and head out, but after a few moments of letting the tears flow, I recall imagining the sound and the vast image of the waterfall, and I breathed in the fresh scent of the pine trees surrounding me. Then I picked myself up and hiked on to find that beauty — and it was well worth it. Nature gave me strength and courage.

The second big occurrence was the summer after I graduated from college. I decided to do some traveling, so I headed out West and landed in Wyoming — living and working in Grand Teton National Park for about 3 months. A small blip of time, but a life-shifting blip of time for me. Something that had dimmed and shut down inside of me during college, and it was re-lit and opened up. Within 48 hours of parking my car in Wyoming, I reconnected with my clarity about who I am and regained my confidence. I had never felt more myself than I did amidst those mountains. Nature gave me a renewed sense of self and courage.

The third memorable experience was in the summer of 2017 when I volunteered for Ronald McDonald Camp for the first time. The camp is held for children who have cancer (or who are in remission from cancer) and their siblings. At the time, I had been going through some things in my personal life that I considered difficult. Being in the middle of the woods with like-minded souls, in rustic cabins facing the elements of nature, with these beautiful, resilient, grateful children was eye-opening and perspective-shifting. The pure joy in these children’s faces, while getting to do the things that “normal” kids get to do all of the time, was nothing short of extraordinary. The conversations that formed naturally while walking from the cabins to the lake to the dining hall were deep and meaningful. It was then that I realized that I had a strong desire to combine my love of nature with my passion for my counseling career. This is where I belonged. Nature gave me motivation, new perspective, and the experience of pure joy.

Nature heals. Just being in nature and breathing in fresh air for as little as five minutes has been shown to lower heart rate, stabilize blood pressure, and decrease the production of stress hormones. A study done by Robert Ulrich in 1984 found that patients recovering from surgery who had bedside windows looking out on leafy trees, healed on average a day faster, needed significantly less pain medication, and had fewer post-surgical complications than patients who instead saw a brick wall. These are just a few of the numerous facts out there that identify the healing aspects of nature. People have generally become more “heads down” than “heads up,” constantly scrolling through social media, “snapping” friends, sending group texts, sorting emails, etc.… instead of looking up at the sky, admiring the trees, naming the shapes in the clouds, and counting the stars. It is believed that one of the reasons nature is so beneficial to our physical and psychological well-being is rooted in our biology. Our ancestors evolved in wild settings and relied on the environment for survival, so we have an innate drive to connect with nature. Being in nature regulates and resets our nervous system to its true natural state, free from all of the distractions of our modern world. So, I encourage you to get back outside, soak in the beauty and benefits of the outdoors, and get back to your roots!  Here's How:

Re-wilding

The term re-wilding in relation to humans means to revert to a natural or untamed state of being. It is the process of reawakening our connection to nature and unearthing a more true, more wild, more holistic way of life that centers around nature and simplistic living. Some of the simplest ways you can do this are to go barefoot and sit on the ground. Take off your shoes and walk in the grass, dirt, or sand. Put away the picnic blanket and sit straight on the earth and feel the grass on your skin. And just breathe.

Sit Spot

Go for a short walk and find an easily accessible spot in nature where you can sit for at least 10 minutes a day. It can be under a tree, by a stream, on a park bench, or in your own backyard. It is best if it can be somewhere you can access easily, so it can be part of your daily routine (or as many days of the week as possible). Sit for 10-30 minutes and read a book, write in a journal, meditate, or simply breath. Use your senses to absorb the environment surrounding you.

Nature heals! Summer is approaching so get out there and take advantage of the medicine that is right at our fingertips whenever we want it!

Therese M. Daniels, MA, LPC has been in the mental health field for 20 years. She provides individual, couples, and family counseling for children, teens, and adults. She offers regular nature walks to introduce people to nature-informed therapy — and believes in the power of nature to support healing. She specializes in anxiety, depression, self-esteem, life transitions, and more. Learn more at https://theresiliencycenter.com/practitioner/theresedaniels / and www.theresedanielscounseling.com. Contact her at therese.danielslcpc@gmail.com or 410-919-9673.

What Mushrooms Taught Me

by Lindsay Roznowski

When the pandemic hit in March of 2020 and all of our worlds shut down, I was working as a counselor at an all-residential boarding school for 9th through 12th graders. I lived on campus, like all faculty at the school, and although my living where I worked gave the shut down an intense spin, I was grateful that my workplace also included 2,200 acres of nature preserve for me to explore. I always appreciated the richness of the woods around the campus, but in the early days of the pandemic, long, daily nature walks became my thing. At a time when I felt constricted, confused, and restless, those walks lent me an expansive energy I could not find anywhere else.

One day in May of 2020, as I headed out to the forest, I was talking to a science teacher colleague about all of the creatures I had observed recently on my walks. She suggested I try a science-based image recognition app called “Seek” so that I could find out about the specific species I was seeing. This excited me! That day, I took her suggestion, downloaded the app and spent an hour in the creek learning more about North American Leopard Frogs, Pickerel Frogs, Fowler’s Toads, and American Bullfrogs. As I wrapped up my amphibian adventure, a bright orange pile of something caught my eye on the path by the creek. As I approached, I was sure someone who loved the woods as much as I did left behind the peels of their clementine snack. Upon closer inspection, there were a ton of clementine peels, and they were growing out of the ground. I was perplexed and wowed. I used the image recognition app to identify this dazzling discovery as orange peel fungus. The magic of that moment—the combination of awe, confusion, curiosity—opened up something profound in me.

Since that day in 2020 when my fungal discovery filled me with wonder, amateur mycology (the study of fungus) has become my passion. Over the past three years, I have identified 356 species of fungus in the wild. I have learned a lot over that time about the science of mushrooms, but also about letting myself love what I love, the magic that lives in the woods, and the power of awe.

I recognized the feeling of awe in my body when it hit me unexpectedly, but I wanted to know more about the psychology and science behind it. Why did it feel like the kind of emotional and physical lightning bolt I needed? Merriam-Webster defines awe as “an emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime.”




 

Becoming a Collector of Awe

So how will you open yourself up to the power of awe around you? How can we permanently hold onto the magic of awe that we have already experienced? 

Dr. Paquette makes some suggestions on how we can become collectors of awe: 

Try experimenting with different ways of capturing your favorite moments of awe. Like a museum curator, compile some of your favorite images, memories, objects, and reminders of these experiences. You might keep a journal to record some of your favorite awe-inspiring memories…Or you might hang pictures on the wall or keep mementoes that remind you of these incredible moments. If you’re more digitally inclined, you can consider creating a sort of digital playlist that includes both your own experiences of awe as well as other sorts of awe-inspiring videos, songs, movies, or images. Experiment with what works for you. And as you encounter new awe-inspiring experiences, find a way to add those to your portfolio or playlist as well. Try to devote some time each week, even for just a few moments, to relive and replay some of those moments and memories.

How Embracing Wonder Makes Us Happier and Healthie

by Lindsay Roznowski

Psychologist Jonah Paquette dedicated a whole book to the emotion of awe in his newest book, Awestruck: How Embracing Wonder Can Make You Happier, Healthier, and More Connected. He says that “…awe often occurs as a result of something in our external world that overwhelms our senses—a beautiful sunset, a magnificent mountain, or the night sky above. But sometimes, awe can result from things that are not from the physical realm at all, but rather within our own minds—whether from learning a mind-blowing fact or allowing ourselves to see something in a new light. This kind of mind-bending awe doesn’t require us to travel off to distant lands or buy a ticket to the local symphony; rather, it requires us to open ourselves up to the wonders of the world in a different way, and to harness the power of our imaginations to evoke moments of awe within us.” Dr. Paquette suggests that our openness, curiosity, and willingness to have our minds blown contributes to the intensity and impact of the awe.

After that May day when I got hooked on mycology, I not only continued my daily nature walks, but started to document all new species I found in photographs, and even created my own amateur mycology Instagram page called @phun.gal to share my fungal adventures with the world. It felt exciting to focus on something that I loved that had nothing to do with my job. I wondered if the happiness I felt as a result of my new hobby was just the novelty of teaching an old dog (that’s me!) a new trick or if it was something bigger than that.

What I have found through research is that there is incredible science behind the benefits of awe on the mind and body. Experiencing awe can lead to decreased inflammation in the body, increased dopamine, engagement of the vagus nerve and the parasympathetic nervous system, and an expansion in perception of time among other amazing things.

The Nature Fix

In The Nature Fix, author Florence Williams surveyed many historical figures’ attempts to summarize the experience I had that day in the woods with the Orange Peel Fungus. She discussed how eighteenth-century Irish philosopher, Edmund Burke, posited that “feelings of spirituality don’t just spring from religion: they also spring from transcendent experiences in nature…According to Burke, for something to be truly awe-inspiring, it must possess the ‘vastness of extent’ as well as a degree of difficulty in our ability to make sense of it. That awe also inspires feelings of humility and a more outward perspective has been well described by philosophers, priests and poets.” There was definitely something special about the experience of perceiving something to be a known object and then having to make space in my mind for the fact that it was something totally different, mysterious, and interesting. I had put my finger on the emotion I was experiencing when I first spotted the Orange Peel Fungus, but I wondered how I could keep feeling that kind of awe and how I could preserve the positive side effects.