Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott.
You know it's very rare that I walk up onto the moors when it's already dark.
As you know often I'm up on the moors just before the sun is about to set but today I've been out,
Drove back home,
Lit a fire and decided to come out for a walk.
I thought in my head,
My mind,
Thought it was a good idea to go down to the village cemetery which is not far away and as I started walking my intuition whispered for me to go up onto the moors.
And so there's two things I want to share with you today on my little journey up here on the moors.
One is that as I was walking up onto the moors there's a very mucky muddy lane,
Lots of potholes,
Water running down the middle of it,
Slushy leaves and to walk up it I needed my torch and as I walked up the lane I just came up slowly.
I've got a little bit of a niggle in my leg at the moment,
A little injury from when I went to the gym and so I'm just taking it a little bit cautiously and I had my torch in my hand and I realised that all I could see as I was walking,
All I could see was next step,
One step and then the next step.
I could shine my torch up the lane but it's a very weak torch and I couldn't see very far ahead and so all I could do is put my torch down by my feet,
Light up what was beneath my feet,
Keep my head down and just take one step at a time.
And I find this so helpful in life.
We often rush around thinking we need to know the end journey,
We need to know exactly how we're going to get somewhere,
We need to know where we're heading and whilst it's really good to have an aspiration and I had an aspiration tonight to head out and to walk down to the cemetery in our village,
It's also really good just to listen out to our intuition and wisdom and listening out to intuition and wisdom might surprise you because it did with me tonight.
It took me on a walk that was more challenging than I was expecting,
It took me on a walk that was dark and it took me out in the torch light where all I could see was one step at a time but what a great reminder,
One step at a time,
That's all you need when you go walking.
And so today as I reflect on one step at a time and you might be able to hear that little Russian gurgle of the stream below me,
I'm just walking up beside it again shining my torch and the torch is glistening with the drops of water that are still present on the grass.
Just taking one step at a time is so helpful in life,
Particularly when you think about the bigger picture and you have,
Like I have,
Had some news of ill health in a relative,
Which is really bad news,
A really bad cancer prognosis,
Where those sorts of those sorts of conversations they come out of the blue and they really hit you and there's a sort of a sense of the enormity of contemplating the end of life for someone.
And also it brings into focus,
For me anyway,
The importance of just valuing and treasuring life.
I think life is extraordinary,
It's exquisite and I feel really blessed to live the life that I live and to have these experiences like I am right now wandering across the moorland with a torch in hand,
With a puddle of light in front of me,
Walking through the darkness.
And I think this walk up here today has reminded me of two things.
Firstly,
It's reminded me that yes,
Of course,
Things are going to be troubling as we navigate this end of life with a dear relative of ours.
But I also know that there are two things that clear from tonight's walk.
One is I can always take the next step,
Shine that torch in front of me,
Don't need to know the whole journey,
I just need to take one step at a time.
And the other clear thing for me tonight is to follow that instinct,
That intuition,
Allow that to shine,
Allow that to guide me.
It might surprise me and that's okay,
Because when I can just follow that intuition and take one step at a time,
I can make the whole journey,
Even if I don't know what the final destination actually is.
