One of the great skills of science appears to be making really interesting subjects sound crushingly dull. It has to do with intellectual rigour, and all that marvellous jargon that drains awe and wonder from the most fascinating investigations.

Take “eudaimonic well-being” for example.

Does that label excite you with its potential for some of life’s great gifts? Does it make you think, “wow, I want that!” Probably not. But you do. No matter how awful the terminology, eudaimonic well-being is something most of us strive for.

It was Aristotle’s idea. He said eudaimonia was the result of a life in full flourish, as if blessed by good spirits and living in sync with its true purpose. In Social Media Speak, the translation might well be: “Living Your Best Life.”

EWB

Eudaimonia is a treasure trove of joy, thanks to overcoming adversity, satisfying personal growth and a general feeling that life is worthwhile. When we experience eudaimonic well-being – or EWB (we’re talking science so it needs a TLA*) – we are fully functional in the world and have a purpose for being on the planet.

And it turns out that being connected to nature can increase our eudaimonic well-being. Scientists are still working out how to study if EWB (eudaimonic well-being) causes NC (nature connectedness) or NC causes EWB – if you get my drift – but whether it’s chicken or egg, there is a proven reciprocal relationship at work.

In 2019, the University of Derby published a meta-analysis studying The Relationship Between Nature Connectedness and Eudaimonic Well-Being.

A meta-analysis is a study analysing existing analysis. The first step is to figure out which bits of other people’s work should be included in the meta-analysis. To do that, the researchers defined EWB using Ryff’s Scale of Psychological Well-being. This gave them six subscales to focus on: Personal Growth, Purpose in Life, Autonomy, Environmental Mastery, Self-Acceptance and Positive Relations.

EWB vs HWB

There are two types of well-being, of course. Science has no fun at all if it can’t compare and contrast. As well as, or instead of EWB, we might experience HWB, or Hedonic Well-Being. This is something we generally like even more, because it’s simpler.

HWB is just feeling good, it’s good times, parties, friends, happy-go-lucky moments. EWB doesn’t necessarily make you feel good all the time because it involves challenges and working through adversity before you get to the personal growth and positivity part of the program.

If you’re after HWB – the quick and dirty happiness fix – here’s the good news. Getting out into nature will most likely give you that. The study showed a simpler correlation between nature connectedness and hedonic well-being, meaning there are plenty of data points to prove what your body, mind and heart feel out in nature.

Just get out there and enjoy the view!

Looking for ‘Personal Growth?’

The Derby study hypothesized “that NC would be more strongly associated with EWB than it is with HWB.” It didn’t quite get there. EWB was boosted by NC, but HWB improved more.

However, here’s an interesting outlier in the EWB/NC equation: of the six measures of eudaimonic well-being, the one most improved by time in nature was “personal growth.” The authors describe personal growth as “being open to new ideas and experiences, and realizing one’s full potential.” There was a stronger correlation between feeling connected to nature and personal growth than there was for the other five subscales. 

Conclusion? You could spend more time in nature, and spend less money on “Your Best Self” workshops and personal coaching. Maybe it’s time for a ritual burning of all those goal setting journals and self-help books? You could use them to start your cooking fire on a camping weekend.

Personal growth doesn’t have to cost you anything. It is a natural result of nature connectedness if you’re willing to slow down, open up and let your connections with nature deepen, well, naturally.

Look at all the things around you that are moving, and all the different ways they move.

Stare into the vastness of the sky or the miniature world of activity in a patch of dirt.

Feel with your skin and your fingers.

Listen to the birds.

Play at the shore of a pond, river or ocean.

Soak in some wisdom from a tree.

See what your relationship with the more-than-human-world can do for your relationship with you.

You - and your best self.

*Three Letter Acronym