living at your desk? - Prasada

What if you could put one thing on your desk that just might shift your energy, reduce your stress levels and bring a smile to your face? What if you didn’t even really have to look directly at it? How hard it that?

Last week the Delaware Valley Green Building Council sponsored a talk about biophilic design and they have some interesting studies abouthow cities across the world are bringing nature back into the city and how companies are bringing nature back into the workplace?

Why? Because it reduces stress, soothes our soul and heals our bodies and minds.

But where to start? Something as simple as a plant or even a picture of a plant or something natural reduces cortisol. I’ve been making terrarium, large and small, and these little “tiny ecosystems of delight” are having a big impact.

Last week I was scheduled to be in a meeting room for an all day program. I had been in the windowless room before and it was difficult. So I headed to the meeting with my tiny terrarium.

I put it at my desk. People wondered about it, asked questions and admired it with delight. At one point the tables got moved around for a discussion and it made its way to the front of the room. I won’t say it changed the discussion but it did change the mood. Research shows that the impact of plants can be significant.

“In an eight-month study, the Texas A&M University research team explored the link between flowers and plants and workplace productivity. Participants performed creative problem solving tasks in a variety of common office environments, or conditions. The conditions included a workplace with flowers and plants, a setting with sculpture and an environment with no decorative embellishments.

During the study, both women and men demonstrated more innovative thinking, generating more ideas and original solutions to problems in the office environment that included flowers and plants. In these surroundings, men who participated in the study generated 15% more ideas. And, while males generated a greater abundance of ideas, females generated more creative, flexible solutions to problems when flowers and plants were present.”

Wow, would you like to have more ideas, be more creative and solve more problems?

Be well…it’s a state of mind.