Hello, Friends
“Consuming more Vitamin N”
Yesterday I received an email from a friend in Fukuoka who said the cherry blossoms are due to begin blooming soon. (Wish I were there!) In the next few weeks you will probably be one of the celebrants sitting under the cherry trees decked out in their delicate pink finery as you eat and drink with friends.
I hope the weather is warm there this year; I remember sometimes seeing cherry viewing parties bringing small heaters to the celebration. Also, I hope the rains don’t come too soon and force the fragile petals off the trees.
Richard Louv, the co-founder of the Children & Nature Network, and author of The Nature Principle: Reconnecting with Life in a Virtual Age, says that N stands for Nature. During the next few weeks probably the majority of Japanese people will get an ample amount of Vitamin N.
In an earlier book Last Child in the Woods, Louv introduced the term “nature-deficit disorder” as his way of describing the growing gap between kids and nature—and the consequences.
He says research shows that more time in nature reduces stress and depression, promotes faster healing time, and even reduces the amount of meds needed for pain control.
For people in the work force or in school, spending time in nature (getting their Vitamin N) increases their over-all performance.
Even as the cherry blossoms fade, a good resolution would be to spend your family vacation somewhere in nature this summer. Even before that, allowing time to walk through one of the parks on your way to the subway or bus would probably be a beneficial thing.
The last few years I have been reading more and more about the decline of the Monarch Butterflies and the bumblebees. These pollinators are necessary for our food to grow. This summer I want to do my part by planting the kinds of flowers that attract the butterflies and the bees. Also, I’ll be getting Vitamin N.
As you know, we can’t take a few vitamins and then stop. Vitamin N works the same way: we must take it frequently to get the most benefit.
After our brutally cold winter here in Missouri, I look forward to getting out and inhaling large doses of Vitamin N again. I just wish I could do it with a group of AP friends under a canopy of pink blossoms. Enjoy!
--June Seat, Founder & Friend, APJapan
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