Location Affects Wellbeing
Location matters. Whether looking for a home, a school, a job we care about location. Just imagine some of your favorite vistas, a mountain top view, standing on the ocean’s shore, your favorite produce stand (or pizza shop). Where we are certainly affects who we are. That location affects wellbeing has been intuitive for years. Now science gives us more on this link to wellbeing.
The poet WHAuden is credited with first coining the word “topophilia” to describe a strong emotional pull to a special place.
Now scientific research, using cutting-edge brain imaging, suggests Auden was on to something. According to a study commissioned by the National Trust, people experience intense feelings of wellbeing, contentment and belonging from places that evoke positive memories far more than treasured objects such as photographs or wedding rings.
A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study commissioned by the NT set out to “understand this visceral but intangible feeling more deeply”.
The NT report, Places That Make Us, commissioned Surrey University academics and research experts to conduct fMRI scans as well as in-depth interviews with volunteers, and an online survey of 2,000 people, about their special places.
“Working with leading researchers and academics, and using cutting-edge fMRI brain technology, we examined how places affect people, how they become special and why we feel a pull towards them,” said Nino Strachey, head of research for the NT.
It found places that are intensely meaningful invoke a sense of calm, space to think and a feeling of completeness.
Source: Wellbeing enhanced more by places than objects, study finds
Location, Location, Location
In a stress-filled, fast-paced world it is meaningful to know that locations can soothe jangled nerves. Vacation should not just be about where you are not (i.e., the office) but where you are. What locations give you a sense of calm? What will it take for you to visit one of those locations? Remember, locations do not have to be exotic… they have to be meaningful to you.
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