Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott and this is my daily reflection out in nature.
And you find me sheltering in a gully on Dartmoor.
This little gully is quite steep sided.
There are ferns,
Thick green ferns that go up either side and a beautiful selection and display of pink foxgloves and these are tall flowers with sort of like bell like flowers that cluster up the stems sort of going up like a very tall triangle.
I love,
I do love seeing the foxgloves.
They always remind me of my friend.
When I see the foxgloves I always know it's my friend's birthday very soon.
They're a good little reminder to when her birthday is.
And as I'm also in this little gully I'm looking at the dew drops and we had a bit of rain overnight so maybe it's rain as well but there are spider's webs that are covered in glistening in little droplets of water in this morning sunlight.
And the spider's webs they they're pretty well hidden actually on the ground.
They're stretched across the ground but when the water comes in you can see them.
They're really beautiful like delicate hammocks lying in the grass.
One of the things that I'm reminded of as I see these spider's webs is that they're usually so well hidden.
I mean that's the whole point of a spider's web is it is so well hidden that insects fall into it or fly into it.
But when the water and the dew drops and the raindrops falls on the spider's web then what was once invisible becomes visible.
And you know I love that.
I love that as a metaphor.
For me one of the things I find so delightful on my spiritual journey is when I see through the things that were once invisible or I see what was once invisible and it becomes visible in my world in a good way.
So for example thinking and thought which is a plague for most people can be a plague anyway.
Words inside my head and the shoulds and the shouldn'ts and the oughts and the what will happen and insecurities and the limiting beliefs.
Those often are like spider's webs.
You don't see them and they're there and you fall into the trap of them because you believe those thoughts.
There's a real sense that because I'm thinking something it must be true.
In fact we don't even realize we're thinking it.
It just looks as though our thoughts are telling us the truth about what we're experiencing in the world.
And what I really love about understanding the nature of thought is that as I begin to see thought a bit like when the water on the spider's webs highlights the spider's webs and I can see the web that was once invisible.
When I'm actually able to see thought it no longer tyrannizes me in the same way.
Instead I understand it.
I understand the nature of thought.
So that doesn't mean that when I understand the nature of thought I feel better and everything's okay.
It means that when I understand the nature of thought it's less likely for me to fall into the trap of believing everything I think.
And that,
Believe me,
Is a liberation.
As your thoughts start to become visible,
As you notice them,
As you detect them,
They no longer have the same power over your life.
You don't need to get rid of them.
I think the nature of being human is that we have a lot of thinking.
But the more that you see them and you notice them,
The more you're able to align yourself with what is right for you in your life.
And the best way to notice your thoughts,
I've found for me,
Is my feelings.
My feelings are like those water droplets on the spider's web.
My feelings alert me to thought.
So when I feel unsettled,
When I feel overwhelmed,
When I feel unloved,
When I feel anxious or when I feel worried,
I know that those feelings are highlighting thought.
There is a thought trap there.
And just noticing,
Realizing that the thought is present means that I feel that I have some space and I don't need to fall into the trap of believing what I think.
