Modern working life quietly teaches you to arrive in pieces: a work self at the desk and a family self at dinner, with the interior self on indefinite hold. Balance, as we coach it, means integration: bringing the same whole person to every room you enter.
What the Nature Research Shows
A 2019 survey of nearly 20,000 adults in England, published in Scientific Reports, found that people who spent at least 120 minutes a week in nature reported better health and wellbeing, whether that time came in one long walk or many short ones. The survey shows an association and cannot prove that the time outdoors caused the difference. Two hours a week is a modest target in a region like ours. It is a habit waiting for a calendar slot.
Awe, Spirituality, and the Larger View
Research on awe, the feeling that arrives at a summit or under old-growth trees, found in a 2015 series of experiments that it shrank people's sense of self and made them more generous toward others. Whatever form the larger view takes for you, a faith practice or a quiet ferry ride across the Sound, it deserves a regular place on the calendar.
Whole Self, Whole Relationships
Integration shows up with other people. The partner who gets your full attention. The meeting where you say the true thing. In coaching we build these into the plan alongside everything else, because they are part of how performance happens rather than the reward for it.
Selected Reading
White MP, et al. Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing. Scientific Reports, 2019. View on PubMed.
Piff PK, et al. Awe, the small self, and prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2015. View on PubMed.
This article is for general education only. Coaching is not psychotherapy or medical care. Talk with a qualified clinician about your individual situation.