Flowers affect our emotions

Right up until he passed away, Dr John Hinwood was a prolific blogger (an award-winning blogger in fact!). John’s blog’s shared musing from a rich history of experience, learnings, travel and wisdom.

The Hinwood Institute is named in honour of Dr John and to continue his legacy, we’re republishing his blogs to keep his wisdom, wit and wise words alive for the world to enjoy.

You can learn more about the legacy of Dr John Hinwood HERE.

Lao Tse once said, “If you have two pennies, one penny buys a loaf of bread and one penny buys a lily.”

Seeing beautiful flowers growing in a home garden, in a park, in a nursery, in a florist or anywhere at all can have a profound effect on our mood and on reducing our stress levels.

A major study at Harvard University indicates that flowers are a natural stress reliever.

Several years ago, we moved into a new office. Our team of five decided that the move would work best if we did it on a Friday and Saturday so our client services could be managed easily. We often were away travelling on a Friday to the training programs we ran around the country.

The move went extremely well, and it only took us a day and a half.

Judy and I left the office for the final hour as our three team members were arranging their workstations in readiness for the week ahead. We said we would go and buy a very special celebration lunch while they finished up.

As well as purchasing the gourmet lunch we went to an outstanding florist and purchased three massive bunches of very bright mixed flowers. The florist owner did a magnificent job in arranging each bunch, wrapping them in very special paper and using metres of very attractive ribbon. They looked overwhelming and beautiful.

We arrived back at the office with the very special lunch spread and as our three women were getting the drinks ready, we quickly went back to the car as it needed two of us to carry in these three massive bunched of flowers.

When we walked back into the office with the awesome beauty of these floral thank you gifts the women were stunned. It meant so much to them.

High quality flowers cared for will often last for a couple of weeks and bring ongoing joy day after day.

When a person receives the gift of flowers their reactions can include surprise, genuine happiness and gratitude. Flowers have a long-term positive effect on our moods. The Harvard Study participants reported feeling less depressed, anxious, and agitated after receiving flowers. They also demonstrated greater sense of life satisfaction.

Rutgers University conducted a 10-month behavioural study that explored the link betweenflowers and life satisfaction. Their findings show that flowers are a natural moderator of moods and have strong positive effects on emotional health.

According to the Rutgers researchers, the presence of flowers provides the following benefits:

  • Flowers have immediate impact on happiness. All study participants, in every age group, expressed excitement when receiving flowers. Reactions included surprise, genuine happiness and gratitude.
  • Flowers have a long-term positive effect on moods. Study participants reported feelingless depressed, anxious, and agitated after receiving flowers. They also demonstrated greater sense of life satisfaction.
  • Flowers create intimate connections. Giving and receiving flowers creates positive contact between family and friends.

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About the Author

Barbara Clifford - The Time Tamer

Dr. John Hinwood is a Global Leader in Stress Management. He is a very experienced and respected executive coach, mentor, consultant, sought after international speaker and author. He specialises in facilitation that leads clients out of the stress and into the calm. He has a reputation for innovative and transformational work in stress-life balance and mindset change for front line employees, to managers and business leaders.

Dr John Hinwood has shared the stage with Dr John Demartini, Dr Deepak Chopra, Dr Wayne Dyer, Dr Joe Dispenzia, Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul fame), Dr Bruce Lipton, Dr Masaru Emoto and others who are at the cutting edge of human behaviour and mindset change.

He has written 14 books with 4 being Amazon international best sellers. He has had papers published in academic journals and was once Captain/Coach of the Danish National Rugby Team. Dr. John’s experience as a health professional by training, successful businessman by effort and an inspiration by inclination has given him an awesome array of practical tools for success.