Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott.
Well,
Not really in nature,
I'm in the middle of a town,
Albia,
In Spain and I've come away from the promenade which is beautifully right beside the Mediterranean Sea but it's also quite busy with people,
There are cars and it's baking hot because the sun is shining right onto me.
And I've come into one of the back roads,
Seeking a little bit of shade from the buildings,
And the trees and that's where I am right now.
My whole system is aching to be in nature if I'm honest.
Lots of pavements,
Lots of cars,
Lots of shops and here I am just beneath a tree and I'm just touching the trunk of it,
One of the trees that are lining the pavement that takes me through Albia.
And there's a tree that I found along the promenade,
It's a sort of a pine tree and it stands by the harbour and I've used it a few times on my walking as I've walked towards Altea because it casts a shadow,
It casts some shade and it's my stopping point,
It's my place to breathe,
To glug some water and just to be in the shade because it's very hot here.
I'm not used to this sort of temperature at this time of year and for me this is quite uncomfortable,
Albeit not as baking hot as it can get here in Spain.
And what I've realised is that my heart longs to be out of the town and it's a very pleasant town but I look up onto the mountains and I see the mountains around me and my heart aches to go and explore.
I haven't got a chance to do that with this particular trip so instead I'm drawn to the trees and the plants that are in people's gardens.
Opposite there's a huge what looks like a cactus growing.
Unusual plants for my eyes,
There's palm trees.
This is a hot dry part of Europe and different different plants that I'm used to are growing and to me I guess it's about finding those little nuggets of nature even in a landscape that is busy,
Is full of people,
Has got streets and cars and sort of feels like it's full of exhaust fumes and buildings and noise.
It's seeking out those little pockets of nature,
Those little standing points of nature like the trees here that still provide the shade,
Still call me to be with them and to notice them and acknowledge them,
Albeit they are in a city,
A town landscape.
And I think the tree when I was walking along the promenade and I came to that tree,
The the pine tree that casts a shade and I stopped there,
That was the one I always stop along when I'm walking along the promenade.
Today I thought I'm going to go and touch that tree and thank it and I was a little bit thwarted because it was behind a fence and I hadn't realised that which is why coming here and just being with this tree and these trees along this pavement feels really special,
Seeking to say hello to nature in my way,
Albeit in a town.
And when I think about the trees and the way they give shade I realise that they do so with real grace.
They take the brunt of the sun and in taking the brunt of the sun they cast a and casting a shadow in its own right is an act of grace,
It's a gift.
And I love that,
I love the idea that we can do that ourselves,
We can cast a shadow,
We can create pockets of cool,
Pockets of calm,
Pockets for people to stand in our shade,
Whether that is because of the intensity of the heat of the sun or what I'm more used to is the intensity of the winds that blow off the Atlantic Ocean and maybe it's about the shelter that you can afford people,
Give people who are really lost in finding their way in life and maybe lost in their turmoil of their thoughts.
So today is just a reminder that you don't have to do much,
Like the tree is just being a tree standing here,
But we can do that,
We can when we are grounded,
When we are settled,
When we are able to be that safe place that people can shelter,
We don't have to fix problems,
We don't have to try and sort things out,
Just the fact that we are grounded,
We are settled,
We have accessed our own peace of mind,
That in its own right creates shadow,
Shade,
Shelter and that's what we can do in the world.
We can't fix all the problems,
It's impossible,
But we can be like a tree,
A tree that stands firm,
Gives shelter when it's windy and gives shade when it's hot and sunny,
That's what we can do for other people.
