Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott I'm standing in the Cathedral Green,
But it's not very green here at the moment.
It's been Converted or transformed into a Christmas market.
There's lots of Decorations and lights and sort of temporary wooden huts selling different things.
It's very quiet It's first thing in the morning So this hasn't opened up yet but it is completely transformed from what I normally see when I walk beside the Cathedral Green and Towering up above these little wooden huts is Exeter Cathedral itself.
It's a grey day a bit cool very seasonal and there's something I do love seeing Christmas stuff going up the lights and the trees and the festivities makes me smile and Actually,
This is kind of tied into What I want to talk about today,
Which is about being authentic being authentic in my communication and I'm not talking about this in a serious way.
I'm talking about this in a quite a light way actually something that occurred for me recently and what I often find is it's these small little interactions with people that Have me reflect on the wider context in my life.
Let me explain Yesterday I went for a park run and I went for a park run which in the UK is a free organized event it happens all over the country and People get together and they meet up and they go for a three mile or 10k run,
But at the moment the encouragement is that if you don't want to run it walk it and that's what appealed to me because I'm not really a runner,
But I do love walking and So I arranged to go with a friend and My sister and we went and did this park walk as it was for me Walking in the cold freezing rain.
It wasn't very busy because it was such a horrible day But I was completely taken by it.
It's it was extraordinary.
There were volunteers.
They're encouraging Supporting there were people who were walking like me some had a dog some one of them had been I had done over 400 park runs in a time at different places all over the country and it just felt like there was this great atmosphere and I I felt really taken that the person that had instigated and started these park runs I Had not done it to make money He set it up as a charity and the whole purpose behind it is that people turn up and They have a place of community Where they can meet together and go for a run or now They're encouraging people to go for a walk as I was walking around and smiling at the volunteers and seeing the different people that were Doing it.
I was so enthused.
I was Touched beyond measure it lit me up inspired me and I got a little bit of feedback from my friend's husband and And He's he's also a friend and he said to me.
Um,
Oh He said you're I I heard that you you went on this park run.
He said and you were Just so enthusiastic about it about it.
No,
He didn't he said it with a bit of an edge of that What's the word I'm looking for he wasn't encouraging put it like that It was almost like I had a bit of a character flaw that I found something like this so it like it it created such enthusiasm in me and just temporarily I Went back into an old habitual thought pattern and the old habitual thought pattern is keep your head down I shouldn't have been so enthusiastic I should be a bit more measured in the way that I come across all those things That's kind of my one of my habitual patterns of thinking and it rose in me and then another thought came through one that felt more true and That was this is you Like just be yourself if you want to talk about something enthusiastically Talk about it enthusiastically.
That's who you are So the greater learning for me has been just this reflection on huh?
How many times in my life do I try and change who I am and how I express myself?
Because I'm trying to please the people around me trying to make them feel comfortable Actually,
This is about me expressing myself with freedom and honesty and truth and For me,
That's what came through so clearly Today,
And I just wonder if it resonates for you.
How good are you at expressing yourself with freedom?
