Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott.
I'm on the 11th day of my pilgrimage walking the Michael and Mary energy currents from Cornwall up towards Norfolk and I've just crossed the border from Cornwall into Devon over the River Tamar and it's been weather-wise the most glorious day,
Quite cool but sunny,
Perfect for walking if I'm honest.
I've had my coat on all day and not really wanted to take it off,
It's just felt about the right temperature when I walk I warm up and the coolness just keeps me at the right temperature so it's been really fabulous and today has really been a reminder of something that my sister said the other day when she shared a day of walking with me and I was talking about some of the difficulties I'd had and challenges I was experiencing on the pilgrimage and she said well you know the nature of a pilgrimage is that it is challenging that's the nature of what it is it's not meant to be easy easy easy all the time there will be ups and downs and that was so helpful for me just to remember because it's I mean it's just like life isn't it we think life should be a certain way or certainly I do sometimes and then I get frustrated because it's not turning out the way I think it should when in actual fact life just turns out the way it does and there's a certain level of acceptance then um I was going to use the word surrender but that doesn't feel quite the right word but maybe just acceptance that life is just doing its thing so today on this walk I there are a couple of times when I was really keen to stride out keep myself warm I felt quite fit and able to walk with a bit of a purpose and then I'd come across some mud and it was practically impassable or I'd come across a road that had been removed and a byway put in that wasn't on my map so I got very confused because it was the byway was leading in a different direction than my map was indicating the road should lead and today also has been very much a day of immersing myself in nature certainly the last few days as I've walked through Cornwall the Mary and Michael energy currents have been very much part of my day and they have been today as well I've walked through North Hill has got the Mary current going through it and Lysanthe has got the Mary current going through it and I'm going to end up at Milton Abbot where the Mary current passes through but there's been an extra dimension today where I've really connected with the flowers that are coming out of the hedgerows and I've noticed the wildlife I saw a fox I startled a fox he was either basking in the sun or just about to pounce on a rabbit I'm not sure which and it scarpered so quickly but it was a magical moment that moment of an interaction with an animal and seeing it in the wild just was magnificent so I guess what I'm realizing is that I might have expectations about how the day will be or what I'm going to do but the truth is as I'm open to it it just unfolds in whatever way it's meant to unfold and taking that into into life generally I know is going to be helpful for me is that you know life by its nature will have challenges that's the nature of life relationships will have challenges that's the nature of life circumstances will be challenging that's the nature of life there'll be times when my health is challenged that is the nature of life and the the the piece that I seem to have some agency over isn't what happens to me in life but is my response to that and if I rail against what's happening or I'm annoyed or angry or frustrated then that just adds to the burden of whatever I'm experiencing at the time so yeah so that piece of advice has really stuck with me about a pilgrimage by its nature is challenging that's the nature of a pilgrimage it's not meant to be sunshine and flowers and rainbows a pilgrimage is a metaphor for life and I've certainly been experiencing that as I've walked and I just find that quite comforting to realize that it's not just on the pilgrimage that I'm going to experience ups and downs it is absolutely in life too and by accepting rather than resisting that I can navigate through my life with ease
