This podcast, Your Outside Mindset  is now in the top 5% most popular shows out of 3.2 million podcasts globally. Thank you to each one of you in 56 countries for listening and sharing Your Outside Mindset podcast episodes. 

For science- based information with easy to use tools, tips and practical advice on how to get the most of your time in green space see my website https://treesmendus.com and check out my books Take Back Your Outside Mindset: Live Longer, Stress Less, and Control Your Chronic Illness and Optimize Your Heart Rate: Balance Your Mind and Body With Green Space.

In this solo episode today, I want to share something that happened to me at my son Max’s wedding to Sarah - which took me by surprise and made me step back and revaluate who else needs to hear the message I am sharing in this podcast. 

So let me take you to the big day. I was there mother of the groom and asked to do a big speech.I was nervous, practicing, second guessing whether this was the right thing to say-all the things that parents feel before making a momental speech.. I won’t read you the whole speech.  So listeners here is part of my speech on that precious loved filled day: 

When the kids were small we lived on Loughborough Lake near Kingston. One day I  was rushing around tidying our house and saying, “I just want to get things back to normal.” Max who was in Grade 1 at the time said, “Mommy Where’s normal?” I replied “ I don’t know, where do you think it is? Max said “Out in  the middle of the lake somewhere.” 

And when Max was little he loved to lie on  the ground and look  up into the  tree branches – for a  very long time. So long that I finally decided to start lying down next to him. When I did,   he said “look mommy angels” – he  was referring to the light glancing through the tree branches. 

I don’t know, but if I asked Max today “where  is normal?” I am pretty sure he would say anywhere in  the world – and mostly outside and always with Sarah.|”

At the end of the speech his friends shared with me  the impact that my speech had on them - what it also showed that with their  careers, technology and screens  they have lost touch with the importance of making time for nature and green spaces in their busy lives.

So this is for you the 20-30 year olds at Max and Sarah’s wedding:

I get it. If I rewind my time back in my career and busy life in my 20s and 30s, I made time for the gym and workouts but that was it. Now you probably know that I have lupus today. I look back and think that if I had made time for more nature and green space daily in my busy career life – if I had

For peer reviewed research on how your time spent in green space can change your mindset, balance your nervous system and your heart rate please go to verlafortier.substack.com and check out my books Take Back Your Outside Mindset: Live Longer, Stress Less, and Control Your Chronic Illness and Optimize Your Heart Rate: Balance Your Mind and Body With Green Space