Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott.
Well I am outside in the dark of night and I've just popped outside into my back garden.
It's a damp old night and I'm just popping out before it starts raining again.
And I just wanted to share with you some reflections I've got because I'm with a group of women tomorrow,
Running a wise women's circle tomorrow and just want to share what I'm going to be talking to them about.
And the idea of tomorrow is to really focus in on the difference between being guided by wisdom,
Being guided by intuition,
Being guided by your inner compass,
However you want to call it,
And noticing the difference between that and feeling as though you're being pulled along or dragged along by your thinking or thoughts.
One of the questions I often get asked is,
How can you tell the difference between thinking and thought?
And how can you tell the difference between your inner compass?
How can you tell if it's your ego pulling you along?
How can you tell if it's your intuition?
How can you tell if it's your intellect telling you what to do?
How can you tell if it's your internal guidance system?
Well for me it's really easy,
Or I say it's easy,
But for me I've discerned over years what it feels like to me.
And when my ego plays up I can feel it.
It often turns up with a sense of rightness,
It feels like there's a sense of judgment,
There's a sense of frustration or agitation.
My ego has a real sense about it that is often unsettled.
Whereas my wisdom or my intuition or inner compass often comes from a place within,
A deeper knowing,
A sense of feeling like something is nudging me along.
It doesn't have the same sense of urgency.
And this for me is really important because when I feel that sense of urgency or frustration or agitation or that feeling like I am right and others are wrong,
Then I know I am being hijacked by my ego.
But knowing that I'm being hijacked by my ego and recognizing it,
Well that recognition is my inner compass.
When I notice it,
Then that is my inner compass just letting me know that I've lost sight of that settled,
Calm,
Peaceful space to operate out of.
And so my inner compass is always with me even in the midst of me feeling unsettled.
And now is a really good example.
I've just recently got news that my neighbor's dog who's been poorly has died and she's really upset.
And I'm upset,
I'm really sad.
I loved her old dog and it was quite unexpected and sudden and I just know that she will be really sad and missing her dog at this very moment.
And I feel a sense of unsettledness within me and I settle down to do a bit of writing.
And as I was writing I just was looking at what I was writing.
I thought this is no good and what am I doing and I'm no good at writing.
And what I realized though is that unsettledness had nothing to do with my writing and everything to do with me just feeling unsettled.
And me recognizing that,
Noticing that unsettledness,
Realizing that it's probably because of the news of my neighbor's dog.
Well I know not to trust it,
Not to listen to it,
Not to take heed of what it's telling me.
When agitated thought or thinking pipes up I know not to trust it,
Not to listen to it.
I know that that isn't going to point me in the right direction.
And I've got to feel what my inner compass is like for me.
It comes from a different place,
It comes from a settled space.
So the shorthand is if it feels urgent and important,
That's probably coming from your ego and intellect.
And if it feels like a quiet,
Gentle,
Loving,
Knowing,
Well that's probably coming from your intuition and inner compass.
I'll let you know how I get on with my wise woman circle tomorrow and I look forward to connecting again with you tomorrow for another Five Minutes in Nature.
