MINDFULNESS AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONNECTEDNESS TO NATURE AND WELL BEING

Exposure to nature has been shown to increase overall well-being by restoring fatigued attentional resources. Nature allows our strained directed attention to recover, whereas urban environments exhibit the opposite effect. This research investigated whether those who are more mindful receive greater benefits from this phenomena due to the potential interaction of more focused attention and awareness capabilities found in mindful individuals who are exposed to restorative environments. Subjects video either an urban or nature representative video and responded to a series of questionnaires, consisting of connectedness to nature, mindfulness, and well-being self-report measures. Results from this study indicated that those who had higher state and dispositional mindfulness scores showed larger increases in positive affect, subjective well-being, and psychological well-being after exposure to nature, and with higher connectedness to nature, compared to less mindful subjects. These findings confirm previous research while also indicating that state mindfulness mediates the relationship between connectedness to nature and well-being, while dispositional mindfulness moderates the relationship between connectedness to nature and well-being.