Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott.
Oh it's a grey misty day up here on Dartmoor.
I can see probably about 30 or 40 yards ahead there's a silhouette of a tree in a gorse bush and then it just disappears into the grey misty cloud that's been here all day and with it there's been a dampness and there's a dampness in the air now there's been a sort of drizzly rain and the grass here is shining with silver water droplets.
It's not raining at the moment but it just feels as though the silver of the grass is reflecting the silver grey of this cloud that we're in at the moment here on Dartmoor.
And today's reflection is of an interaction I had with somebody yesterday.
And it's a reflection really on how those,
Sometimes those jarring interactions do seem to last a bit longer.
They seem to last a bit like this mist here.
It's been here all day on Dartmoor.
And let me just tell you the story.
I was out with my mum,
We went to a coffee shop and what I found when I'm with my mum,
She's in a wheelchair,
She's got Alzheimer's,
And when I take her into places,
People usually can't be more helpful.
They're trying to accommodate us and make us feel comfortable in what we do,
Which is really awesome.
And on this particular occasion,
I was navigating the wheelchair through the coffee shop and there was one man who was pushed back in his chair.
He was an older man.
Um,
And he obviously wasn't going to move as I found my way through the coffee shop with a wheelchair.
And in fact,
He turned to me and said something along the lines of get that wheel,
This wheelchair out of my space.
I mean,
It was something like that.
I can't exactly remember what it was.
And my first response was to say,
Sorry.
And then I looked at him and I just thought,
Well,
Do you know what?
I'm not sorry.
And instead,
Instead,
I said something about,
Look,
You know,
I would appreciate a bit of kindness.
I'm with my mum,
She's got Alzheimer's,
She's disabled,
I'm a carer and it would be really nice if you were able to show a bit of kindness.
And he just turned away and ignored me.
Anyway,
That was what happened and I've got to say that as I sat down and had a coffee with my mum,
It did take me a little while for that edge of annoyance and outrage in a way to subside because I really felt as though he had been unkind and unfair and it really riled me.
I realised as I sat there that the only person suffering was me and I know that there is no answer in the story or feeling grumpy or feeling angsty and I brought my awareness back and it did take a while because it did hover for a little while this feeling of unsettledness but I brought my awareness back and found a place of love in me and from that place of love.
I can't say that I felt particularly like I liked that man,
But I could feel a place of love.
And from that place of love,
I did feel compassion for him because I realized that,
Wow,
If he goes around interacting with people in that way,
Then he's always having battles.
He's probably always in conflict and he's always finding that people are rejecting or avoiding him.
So I kind of realized that he must have got a pretty unhappy life.
Today,
Though,
Is a reflection on those interactions that sometimes knock us off course or appear to.
And it's so tempting,
Isn't it?
I don't know about you,
You sort of,
I kind of sometimes think about clever responses or,
Oh,
I wish I'd said that,
Or I wish I'd done that.
But the truth is I did the best I could.
And the absolute truth is that when I find myself lost in a story of frustration and annoyance about the behavior of someone else,
Then the truth is the only person really suffering in that moment is me.
You.
And I realized that that was not what I wanted.
And I realized that as I brought my awareness back to loving me,
I might not have felt particularly loving towards this man,
But I did feel compassion for him.
And I did realize that there are a lot of really generous,
Kind,
Compassionate people around.
And as if by magic,
A couple sat at our table and started talking to us,
And they were really sweet,
Kind couple.
And I just realized that the world is populated by people who are kind.
But sometimes it appears to me it's those people that are unkind or frustrated or who aren't compassionate.
They're the ones that stick in our minds.
Isn't that strange?
So today my reflection is this.
It's about realizing there is no answer in the story that I created about this man and how I should have behaved and how he should have behaved.
But there is the answer in bringing my awareness back to love.
And feeling that in me and recognizing the abundance of love that is shown to me each and every day,
Particularly when I take my mum out in her wheelchair.
Let me know your reflections and don't forget to join me again tomorrow for another 5 minutes in nature.
