Step away from the news and back to nature

Something positive to recharge mentally

The last two years have been hard on everyone. Trying to work out what is really going on in the world is important and necessary but everyone should always take time to recharge and recalibrate.

Spring has sprung (in the northern hemisphere anyway) so it’s a great time to improve one’s mental health, top up the vitamin D levels and enjoy nature. If things are feeling overwhelming then appreciating our significance in the greater scheme of things and the beauty of nature will help.

Some music:

A short mindfulness moment:

National Geographic’s photo of the year by Beverly Joubert

No, they’re not black horses but the shadows of zebras, zoom in closer if you can’t see it.

The magnolia tree

The magnolia tree is one of the oldest trees in the world and possibly the oldest flowering plant. These primitive plants have been found in fossil records going back at least 100 million years. They are so old they appeared before most flying insects, such as bees and butterflies, evolved. So, unlike the pollination methods of more modern trees, they pollinate using beetles.

They thrived all round the world until, the theory goes, an ice age wiped them from Europe. Magnolias were reintroduced into Europe in 1688 and were named after the French botanist Pierre Magnol.

Magnolias are monoecious which means they have both male and female organs. However, to avoid self-fertilisation, the organs do not mature at the same time.

Parts of the trees can be eaten or used in traditional medicines. The bark and buds of the tree have been used in Chinese medicine since ancient times. In Asia the buds are used to treat headaches and allergies and some studies have shown they can treat cancer whilst others have shown the bark can lessen tremors in patients with Parkinson’s disease.