Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott,
And here I am on a very lovely crescent on a beautiful day,
Just above the River Wrecks actually,
I'm in Exeter,
And I'm just pausing beneath some trees,
Listening to the birdsong,
There's a little bit of life going on,
You'll hear people starting cars or driving by,
But this is actually a very quiet corner of Exeter,
It's really really beautiful,
And as I look down I can see down towards the river,
I can look out towards the hills,
Holden Hill,
I can see the white of Holden Tower on the hill in front of me,
This is a really nice spot actually,
I think if I was to live in Exeter I think I wouldn't mind living here,
And I've been thinking about something that I've wanted to share with you for a couple of days,
And I'm going to split it into two parts actually,
So I'll tell you part of the story today and part of it tomorrow,
And the question to be reflecting on today,
Or my request is that you reflect on it,
Because this is what I've been reflecting on,
Is where in life are you hijacked by your ego?
Where in life are you hijacked by your ego?
And I'm going to tell you a story because it kind of unsettled me,
And has made me be very reflective.
So I met up with a friend,
My husband and I met up with our friends recently,
And this man is one of the most beautiful people to be around,
He is very spiritual,
Very open to conversations,
Very accepting,
Non-judgmental,
There's a kind of a sense that he is a beacon of calm and groundedness,
He just draws me in,
It's the sort of person I love to be around,
I'm not an extrovert,
I'm not great with conversation and social interaction,
I do enjoy though just being around people where I can just settle and be myself,
And he is one of those people.
And we were actually out treating ourselves to a breakfast,
We wanted to catch up with them,
They're our friends,
We hadn't seen them for a few weeks,
And the conversation took a turn,
And I'm not going to tell you the content of it because it doesn't really matter,
But suddenly this friend of ours took a very polarised position about something that was in the world news,
And it was shocking because usually,
And often we talk about world events,
But often when we talk about world events,
We're looking at it from a different place,
And I'm going to talk more about that tomorrow actually,
But to see him completely spout what he has been reading and exploring in,
I guess,
The news that he's been accessing on social media or wherever he accesses his news,
Was actually shocking from this man.
It really,
Like I say,
It really doesn't matter what the content of what he was saying is because whatever he's taking sides on and whatever the story is,
It's just a story.
What really alarmed me was that he hadn't realised that he was absolutely lost in a story.
He was lost in a story of good and bad,
Right and wrong,
And he was right and everybody else was wrong.
I'd never seen that before in him.
And I found it unsettling because he is my safe space.
He's the place I know I can just be honest and open and exploring,
And yet in that moment I didn't feel safe.
I didn't feel like I could be myself.
I felt like I needed to be guarded.
I am always aware that there is so much richness and learning in these sort of experiences.
And for me,
I've been reflecting on it day after day ever since,
And I'll share another part of this with you tomorrow.
And it made me so super clear that when we get hijacked by our ego,
We really don't realise it.
It looks and feels so real what we're saying.
I'm not pointing the finger at him because I just pulled the question right back on me,
Which is like,
Well,
When am I hijacked by my ego?
When do I go into a place of right and wrong and opinions and judgement?
Because actually being around that was really unsettling.
And I want to talk more tomorrow about my further reflections,
Having been in that situation,
As to where I feel it's important to place my attention and to notice what happens when my ego takes the driving seat.
So I look forward to connecting with you tomorrow.
But just ask yourself that question,
Is there anywhere in your life that you can see where your ego has taken over,
Has hijacked you?
