Healing of nature

"When people in nursing homes are given plants to care for, they live a year longer than the average expectation," Dr. Joan Borysenko.

One might wonder if it is the being with the plants or if it is having something alive dependent upon them which increases the lives of these persons. Perhaps both. We have plants in and out of the house, and choose to live in an area where we experience nature intimately. I think it is beneficial to us both. Perhaps having something one is responsible for keeping alive is good for people with dementia who seem to collapse into themselves. Their awareness seems to slowly restrict so that they are eventually only involved with their own sensations. Perhaps that is not true of all dementia, but it certainly true of some. Perhaps it is good to give them a focus outside themselves (such as a plant) that is dependent upon their attention. An interesting experiment.