If you’ve heard of Blue Monday, that it’s known as the most depressing day of the year, and that it falls on the 3rd Monday of January – that’s today – chances are that you may feel more “blue” today than you did yesterday. This is what’s known as a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you expect to feel a certain way, you most likely will.

Recently, researchers at Concordia University of Edmonton, in Alberta, began exploring a simple way to boost mood during the cold Canadian Winter.

They are testing a “Noticing Nature Intervention” where participants are encouraged to notice, connect with and appreciate nature in urban environments – such as frosty trees or animal tracks, during their daily routines.

Participants are asked to spend two weeks being more mindful of the beauty of their surroundings and to literally take note of what they see. Researchers are interested in how this affects one’s overall level of anxiety, stress, happiness and well-being. They believe that taking time to connect with nature can help fight off the Winter “blues” and are testing their hypothesis by getting the participants to complete questionnaires before and after being more mindful. This, along with other factors, are considered when determining the results.

The study’s leader, Psychologist, Dr. Holli-Anne Passmore, is quoted in an article on this subject in theguardian.com in December, 2024. “We know that people are becoming more and more disconnected from nature,” she says. “One reason is the built-up environment we live in, but we’re also stuck on our cell phones. Honestly, we just need to look around us.”

This requires a relatively simple change in the way we think and behave, but could make a big difference, I believe.

A couple of weeks ago, before chatting with CBC Radio hosts about this, I challenged myself to apply what the researchers were suggesting. I figured that being mindful, connecting and appreciating nature around me, might be beneficial.

And it was.

Instead of checking emails on my phone when I was the passenger in a car, I looked around instead. A couple of things I noticed were how beautiful the snow on the boughs of the trees looked and when walking, the tiny footprints in the snow, after squirrels scampered by.

Along with appreciating and acknowledging the beauty of Winter in my head and out loud, I paid special attention to the words I used – both in my head and when speaking to others – when describing what I saw or felt. When I stepped outside, instead of cursing the cold or describing the weather as frigid, I used words such as crisp, refreshing and invigorating.

I reminded myself of the benefits of walking outside in the cold. As long as I was dressed for the weather, I could better appreciate walking in fresh, cold air and that, in the same that splashing one’s face with cold water during an anxious or stressful time can ground and calm us, so too can being outside in the cold.

Besides walking, try to enjoy what Winter and snow has to offer. If you have children or grandchildren, let them lead the way. Build a snowman, lie on your back and make snow angels. Go tobogganing on a hill. Put out a bird feeder and try to identify the birds that stop to eat. And if you don’t have children around you, let your inner child out!

And then, when you come back indoors, there’s even greater appreciation for the warmth and maybe even a hot cup of tea or chocolate.

Indoors, too, it’s important to be mindful of the words we use to describe our situation. So, instead of telling yourself or others that you feel trapped indoors, try to experience gratitude for having an indoors to be in, and use words such as “cozy” to describe being inside. Just changing our thoughts can go a long way towards changing the way that we feel.

Try this for two weeks and if it works as well for you as it did for me, you will more likely be to thrive, as opposed to just survive, what’s left of this Winter.