Flowers and Us
There is a reason flowers are given as a gift to make people feel better, and this has nothing to do with any survival properties associated with them, it is purely on an aesthetic level. Flowers create a calmness and focus for people through their complexity of colours and distinctive scent. Flowers in the home also give us the sense of bringing the outside in, identifying an appreciation of the natural environment. Flowers attract humans, just as they attract pollinators, which in turn evokes an innate positive emotion due to the ancient association between pollination and food-growing success.
When you look at a flower, parts of your brain are activated to promote positive emotion formation, so without even trying your mood is instantly improved. Flowers have also been shown to create autobiographical memories, etched deep into our subconsciousness, and without us knowing they create paths within the brain to long term positive memories. We can all recall a time in which a flower provokes a wonderful memory, whether it is a picnic in the park on a beautiful summer’s day, a slice of lemon cake in the garden in Spring or the time your partner surprised you when you return home from work with a bunch of flowers. This also shows the link between flowers and social interaction, flowers bring people together whether you are gifting, walking down the aisle with your bouquet at your wedding or visiting a loved one in hospital.
Finally, flowers show resilience. How these beautiful bulbs can survive the harsh winters with freezing temperatures, gale-force winds and torrential rainfall shows how the natural world is resilient. There is so much negativity in the news, that sometimes we need flowers to show us that even through the hardest times, with a bit of warmth and light, you can make it through anything. This was more apparent than ever through the recent pandemic. It is no coincidence that the flower bouquet subscriptions and gift bouquet deliveries increased exponentially. I know personally, when returning from a shift at the hospital to a bunch of flowers, my evening instantly had a greater sense of calm and hopefulness.
It’s a fact, flowers make you feel better, so give more flowers, even better give your loved ones the ability to grow their own.
Love BIAB x
