Psychogeography: You Are How You Are Because of Where You Are
“When you’re having a panic attack get up and leave the room if at all possible.” A dear friend who has learned to cope with her anxious upswells told me this, and I’ve found it to be a handy strategy for any funk. It’s a reset button. You leave the old space behind you and walk into a new frame. The simple act of curating your space with care can foster improvements in mental health. This effect is one example of psychogeography, the idea that one’s physical location can change thinking and behavior.
The term psychogeography was coined in 1955 by Guy Debord, an artist and radical theorist of psychology and public life who is credited with heavily influencing the countercultural Paris Uprising of 1968. The idea that your place can determine your frame of mind has intuitive logic that is broadly supported by a slew of research studies on how environment affects happiness, public health, worker productivity, etc. (a sampling of which is cited below.) On a personal level, psychogeography is a useful lens through which to investigate your own habits. What surroundings make you feel relaxed or energetic? And what places tend to correlate with depression, anxiety, or malaise?
You may already have a few spots that feel like your heart’s home, comforting in a deep substantial way. And you may know which places tend to confer a pick-me-up infusion of energy. Identify these places as resources to turn to when needed, and use them as clues to selectively explore further.
A few patterns to ask yourself about are:
Natural exposure. Many people, myself included, find that spending even a little time in natural surroundings creates a deep sense of contentment. A slew of recent studies and writings have highlighted the positive mood and long-term resilience effects of spending time outside, even in small increments. You don’t need to go for an hour’s drive out to the state park. It can be as simple as sitting in front of your apartment, or walking through the neighborhood. (Some research, looking at the lightest lift, has even shown positive effects from having a plant in the room.) (2007, Bringslimark, Hartig, & Patil)
Novelty. Novel settings and situations make your brain light up and engage, as opposed to the sense of “autopilot” that saturates mundane routines. Go to some new places as a “field trip” for your brain. For homebodies or the intensely anxious, you can start by finding some parts of your home or yard that are just a little different than your usual spot on the sofa.
Sensory stimulation. You might need a spot that’s quiet and serene for relaxation; or you may feel more at ease with music playing and people milling about.
Sociability. Does the presence or absence of others contribute to your sense of relaxation? Perhaps you crave company. Or perhaps you feel more at ease in a place like a coffee shop with a low buzz of chit-chat around but no expectation of interacting.
Timing. When do you need a change of scene most? How long do you need to rejuvenate yourself: a quick dip or a long soak? I.e. do you need a walk around the block once a day, an evening at the lake once a weekend, or maybe both? What’s your daily recommended dose of “your spot”?
***
Try this at home:
Identify what your happiest spots are. If you have trouble identifying any, think about what they were in the past, going back into childhood if necessary. A park. A coffee shop. A place in your yard. Which ones tend to elevate either a sense of relaxation or energy? What do they have in common?
Brainstorm a list of places close to you that you’d like to try out. Pick a day and time to see how it feels to be there, and if you can add these to the running list of your spots. Try to make time visit at least one of your special spots at least once a week.
If you notice yourself in a bad mood, visualize and imagine being in one of your spots. Do you notice any sense of soothing? Make time to go there in the next few days and put a deliberate effort towards allowing yourself to be calmed by it.
***
Action frequently comes before motivation. Try out new places because you know it could help you, without waiting to feel some kind of spiritual calling that “today’s the day.” Inertia is your enemy. Think of it as an experiment (it’s less scary that way), get off your bum, and see what happens.
References and Notes
The “personality” of a place was anthropomorphized as “espiritu loci” or the “spirit of place” by the Romans. This espiritu loci was typically depicted as a household cupbearer god bearing wine and cornucopiae. I love me a minor god bearing snacks. This concept also shows up as kami household gods in Japanese Shinto tradition
Bringslimark, T., Hartig, T., Patil, G. (2007). Psychological benefits of indoor plants in workplaces: Putting experimental results into context. HortScience, 42(3) pp. 581-587.
Brereton, F., Clinch, J., Ferreira, S. (2008). Happiness, geography and the environment. Ecological Economics, 65(2) pp. 386-396.
Dummer, T. (2008). Health geography: supporting public health policy and planning. CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal, 178(9), pp. 1177+
Ellard, C. (2015). Places of the heart: The Psychogeography of everyday life.
Kojima, T., Sakuma, T., Nishihara, N., Hayashi, T., Munakata, J. (2017). Causal modeling between workplace productivity and workers’ satisfaction with various spaces in office buildings. Environmental Engineering, 16(2) pp. 409-415.
Rubin, A. (2018). May 1968: A Month of revolution pushed France into the modern world. The New York Times, initially published May 5, 2018.
Wikipedia contributors (2018). Guy Debord. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:07, October 9, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Guy_Debord&oldid=862028023