I love my dentist! Don't get me wrong, having dental work done is a necessary evil close to the bottom of my 'Oh God I have to do this' list, but she is brilliant. She explains everything clearly before she does something and she doesn't skirt around the pain issue. This last visit she was upfront that the needle insertion for freezing in this particular area of my jaw was going to be painful. Somehow that allowed me to steal myself and get through it because I was warned appropriately, and I'm enough of an adult to know it is temporary pain for the greater good. Also, she now has a screen on the ceiling. Normally I'd be somewhat snobbish and dismissive, but I'm over the moon about her latest technological add-on. She had nature videos playing and wow, did that help.

Usually I'm meditating as best I can through the pressure and noise of the drill and clinging onto the very technical conversation between her and her assistant, not understanding a thing they're saying, but somehow taking comfort that they seem so calm and this is just another routine day at the office. This time though was something akin to magic. As the nature videos unfolded in front of me I dove into the greenery of leaves and forests; I delighted in every bird that stopped by to preen or sip from a water source; and I fixated on the greenery again when the drilling was particularly harsh. And then it was over. I felt like a kid who gets rewarded with a lollipop. I half smiled - because freezing - and refrained from hugging her - because it's not that type of relationship. I wanted to explain all the science behind nature contemplation, but I was a good patient and got up to pay my bill.

Just to let you know looking at nature helps, even on screen. It helps to ease stress, and easing stress helps in any situation. There is so much more to being in nature that I could talk about, but if you are interested check out www.ecowisdom.ca. They are living their truth and offering nature based mindfulness practices in innovative and accessible programming.

Props to dentists, and kudos to my dentist for making this little stress so much more bearable.