Frome Valley Osteopaths

You may have heard the saying ‘if a plant isn’t flourishing, change the environment, not the plant’… Granted, in relation to human health, you can change what’s in our external environment to help our health improve, remove clutter, surround yourself with people who support you, reduce stress. Luckily for us, we aren’t plants, we have a degree of conscious control over our internal and external environments, both of which can be managed, altered, to support or negatively challenge our health.

Most adults have a good degree of control over their external environments, this is relative of course, we are unlikely to be able to move house easily and suddenly spend hours surrounded by beautiful horizons and views to resource us. However, we have control over how clean our environment is. We have some control over the things in our environment, whether we have comfy spaces to relax into, blankets to get cosy in, lighting to feel warm and welcoming. We have control over the devices we bring into our spaces and the time we spend on them. I charged my work phone in my bedroom this week, it for sure, made a difference to the ease with which my nervous system settled into rest. With more and more people working from home, these external, home environments may be more important than ever.

We have control over where we spend some of our time, do you spend your time in spaces that resource you. Maybe it’s the cinema or walking in the countryside, exploring new cities, a picnic in the local park? The choice of where we spend our time is important, it can resource or drain us.

The people we surround ourselves with are important too. There is a lot of talk about boundaries around at the moment, and I am as clear as anyone about how important these are, how we ‘boundary’ our time and how we teach other people around us to treat us is important. People can tend to resource or drain us too. They tend to allow us to feel comfortable being ourselves or we can become reactive and aware that we need to monitor ourselves. Spending more time around the former is a way to support our health through managing our external environment.

Another way to manage our external environment to support our health is, to the extent that you can, chose working environments that work for you. If home working feels isolating, make sure you have options for connection in person. If shift work makes you feel horrendous, does it need to be shift work? If the promotion offered will compromise the health of your relationships and limit your down time, is it where your heart is? do you need to take it? ..

Our internal environment is also hugely important, how we fuel our bodies, rest our bodies, the amount and kind of stress we expose ourselves too, can be resourcing or draining. This is great news right, now I don’t imagine all of this will be earth shattering but reminders are important…

So good food, not good vs bad food, but food that makes us feel good. Our bodies are all different, our histories and cultures around food are all different, eating food that makes us smile, that makes our bodies feel good is resourcing. There is not much more that makes my body smile more, than pesto, chicken and spaghetti! Hydrating well, getting enough water, is a hugely underestimated resource. I enjoy a glass of wine or 3 and a strong coffee as much as anyone, but I know that too often, and it makes me feel wired or sluggish and flat. Where is your sweet spot?

How much we move, how well lubricated our joints and muscles are has a big impact on our internal environment, movement can be brilliant, resourcing for all of us. Again, what’s your sweet spot here? Is it Marathon running? or Weight lifting? or Gardening, yoga and regular walks?

Maybe less obviously, our internal environment extends to our thought patterns, our trauma history and how we manage or respond to stress. This means we can help ourselves with our internal environment also, or reach out for support with them. Developing awareness of our thought patterns, positive and negative, can give us choices, can help us respond to stress differently and to resource ourselves. Integrating the parts of ourselves we like less, the bits we are ashamed of maybe, can resource us, we have less energy tied up in maintaining separation from these parts of us and more available as a resource. Maybe our job doesn’t need to change, but our thinking around it does?

So, in short, yes absolutely, use the plant expression, change the external environment. But also, know that we are complex, beautiful, conscious beings who have more control than we might think over our internal environment. More control than you might think over the resource you have available to you.

As always, if you would like help integrating a sore back or a less than ideal history and thought patterning, we are here to help.

Lauren Manning BSc Hons Ost.