Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott.
It's the evening,
There are low grey clouds here in Exeter.
I'm up a hillside in the middle of a housing estate,
Quite an established nice housing estate.
There are individual houses each with gardens.
There's a little bit of birdsong I can hear in the background and the view from where I am standing at the moment is quite extensive across the rooftops of Exeter to the other side where I can see hills and feel stretching off yellow and green into the distance.
And today's reflection comes about having met the man who helped create the pilgrimage route that I walked.
He'd written a book and plotted some routes,
And I very much depended on that book to help me plot the route that I took as I walked from Cornwall to Avebury.
And then from Avebury,
I plotted my own route up to Norfolk.
But I went back to see him.
As you know,
I've been writing a book.
Sneak copy,
A preview copy that I wanted to give him of my book by way of saying thank you and I'll tell you a bit more about my book in future episodes as and when it starts to find its way into the world.
But we sat in his garden,
Had a cup of tea and we reflected on our love of walking and something more actually,
A connection of soul and spirit I would say,
As we reflected on this deeper connection to spirituality in the world.
And it left me reflecting today on what it is to be human.
Now being human is also about being involved with different things and having the ability to have activities and emotions,
Imagining,
Thought,
Stories,
Like human beings are dynamic things,
Dynamic beings.
And what we seem to lose in our everyday life is this connection to the spiritual,
To the deeper essence of life,
That which flows behind life.
And I really got in touch with that today as I spoke with this man.
He seemed like a very wise soul,
A very wise being.
And it just reminded me of the joy and the nourishment I got when I was walking,
Where my mind slowed and I deeply felt the energy of nature in me.
I was it.
It was me.
And there was something extraordinarily nourishing about that connection.
So today's reflection is about owning that spiritual side of you.
It's so easy to get involved with the speed of life,
Whether it's driving cars or getting on the computer or getting things answered,
Writing emails,
Everything seems to be designed for our convenience.
And yet,
What's really missing.
Is our deep connection to the spiritual,
That actually is the thing that balances out us as human beings,
Gives us such a rich and enriched life,
Is that we have the power to think and thought,
And we recognize we are connected to the source of everything.
And with the distractions in my life,
I can forget that sometimes,
Which is why I come back talking to you day after day,
Because for me,
It's a reminder for me.
I want to strengthen that thread to the spiritual.
I want to feel it daily.
I want to be in the present moment.
And I want to feel that sense of I am.
I am here.
I am Liz.
I am in the now.
And my request is that you reflect on that for yourself too.
What is it like to be in the present moment,
To be in the now,
To not get distracted by the things that want to speed up our lives?
What is it like to get back to presence?
I'd love to know your reflections about that.
And of course,
Don't forget to join me again tomorrow for another five minutes in nature.
