Clarity On A Windy Walk - June 04

It's a blustery day as Liz helps her nephew by taking his dog out for a walk. In today’s 5 Minutes in Nature, she notices a flicker of impatience — the day seems to have slipped by without her accomplishing much. But as she reflects, she realises she’s actually having a perfect day. She loves dogs, she loves walking, and the truth is, she’s enjoying herself. That familiar, nagging voice in her head is just telling her she should be at her computer working — but today, she chooses to ignore it.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott and I'm out and about in new territory for me.

I've come into my local community I'm helping out my nephew who's got a dog and he's away today so I said I'd pop in and give the dog a walk and I'm actually just exploring bits of this community that I don't really visit because I only ever really come in here to shop and we're currently in a park it's sort of a green area the dog knew where to bring me pulled me along and it's a bit blowy at the moment and rather grey and I know rain is forecast I'm just hoping I miss I miss the rain we do need rain so I want it but not whilst I'm out walking with a dog and today I was feeling a little bit as I came to drive to my nephew's house to pick up his dog sort of felt a little bit like oh I haven't really done anything today I went out earlier this morning and I'm part of a saxophone group we train together or we rehearse together and that was about three three hours doing that and then I spent some time taking my elderly dog out because he's ever so slow and I just like to give him a bit of time to go out walking and sniffing and then I got back and from that and needed to come out and take this dog out and as I was driving here I think you haven't been done anything and as I was walking this lovely dog Monty I was reflecting on that comment that I'd made to myself I haven't really done anything and I realized that I have a little bit of an automatic way often of going to the negative of like what I haven't done rather than really actually realizing that everything I've done today I've really really enjoyed I really enjoy walking I've walked my dog I've gone out walking myself I really enjoy playing my saxophone in a group of people we're all learning and we're all pretty much as bad as each other you wouldn't want to hear us play particularly but we all enjoy it so I really enjoy that and then I've really enjoyed taking my elderly dog out again and letting him have a bit of time to sniff and then I had this really sneaky moment of I'm watching a series at the moment and it's a costume drama I love costume dramas and I had one of these sneaky moments of thinking I'll just catch another episode of this lovely costume drama so I watched another episode of that whilst I had my lunch and then I came out to take the dog out and I thought actually I love walking I don't know why I'm so feeling so negative about a bit like I hadn't done enough today because actually everything I've done I've really enjoyed but I haven't actually done any work on my computer and there's a bit of me that thinks I ought to have done that and I haven't spent time maybe doing the chores and think I should really do that and it just occurs to me that often I have a habitual way of being which is I kind of just I don't give myself a massively hard time but I give myself a bit of a ticking off in my head if I haven't done what I think I should have done that day and it just occurred to me as I was walking Monty today I was thinking actually I've done everything today that I've like this is my perfect life I am today I am living my perfect life where I walk I'm with dogs I've had a little sneaky watch of a costume drama which I've really enjoyed I'm out I'm in the fresh air I've played saxophone I've met people it's like I couldn't have a more perfect day so today my reflection is about it's just about shifting that focus for me today and I don't make it a thing because I don't I don't really like tools and techniques I think tools and techniques are overrated you can start to really rely on a tool or technique well for me anyway when actually it's just about having an insight or seeing something differently and then and then just a kind of aligning myself accordingly and what I've seen differently today is that actually I'm having a really fabulous day I'm having a day full of things I really enjoy and I feel really really fortunate so it's good for me just to recognize that and I guess the question today for you to maybe reflect on is do you have a tendency sometimes to give yourself a hard time and is there a way or can you see a way that maybe you are doing things well you are doing things that you enjoy you are having a good life it's just that you focused on the negative and if you can just bring your awareness to that which you are grateful for doesn't it make a difference like I say don't make this into a thing don't make it into a ritual or a habit but I would just be curious today and ask yourself that question

Reviews

Thankyou Liz 🙏🏼
I like how you can find something in each walk to relate back to our well being, and Monty is such a happy doggy name.
Playing saxophone for 3 hours sounds such fun. You must have great lungs !
Some days I just want to sit and knit and that makes me feel like I’m not doing enough … but knitting is my calming craft and soothes me.
For me it’s old voices and childhood messages that nag about ‘not doing enough’
I guess I’m having my ‘best life’ sitting by the heater here in Sydney on this chilly winter morning, knitting, cuppa tae and listening to 5 minutes wih Liz.
And the sky hasn’t fallen in 😄
🌿🐾🌸🎶🌸🐾🌿

Your thoughts today remind me of a very old song by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters called "Accentuate the Positive". The words of the first verse are:
You've got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mr. In-Between

If you know it, I'm sorry, as you'll be singing the melody all afternoon now!

I broke my knee in November and used to walk almost 5 miles a day before . Your 5 minutes in nature have so helped all these months of not being out in nature! Thank you!

I often need to remind myself of the blessings I have, it's so easy to feel sorry for yourself when you've got aches and pains or worries, but yes, when you reflect there are so many little things to be grateful for and everyday things to enjoy instead of taking for granted ✨️ 💖

Absolutely true Liz, i do feel the same when i do not work on my laptop or do some design work and feels i have done nothing today … i think today you gave me a new way to see my day’s productivity. Seeing the joy i felt doing my day to day thing’s and that will be my productivity meter in moments of need. Thanks Liz ❤️💫❤️