Inner Wisdom And Self Care - May 04

Do you make time to care for yourself? In today’s 'Five Minutes In Nature', Liz reflects while walking after a day filled with casual conversation at an event. As she walks, she feels the healing power of nature and recognizes how vital it is to prioritize self-care. The question she poses today is: do you listen to your inner wisdom and take time to nurture yourself?

Transcript

Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott. Oh it's so beautiful. The bluebells in this lane are coming out. It's a lane that is like a tunnel of green with fresh new leaves arching over my head and on either side in this Devon hedgerow there are bluebells emerging from the deep dark green of their leaves. A few yellow celandines poking through as well and I can see the unfurling of ferns they're coming out as well. So this is a really lovely time. Today my five minutes in nature relates to self-care. Self-care. Let me explain a little bit more. I was out today at an event and there were quite a few people there and I ended up sitting next to somebody and we were engaged in small talk and I find small talk very very tiring. So I'm not very good at small talk. I love just diving into sort of philosophical ideas or things that people are really passionate about and finding out about what really makes them tick but small talk that's just not my thing. So I was at this event and I was talking to somebody and my husband was on the other side of me and he he got chatting to somebody else and they were obviously having a good conversation so I was kind of just talking to this lady who was sitting beside me and after about an hour I just thought I need to I need a break so I just excused myself and I went outside and I gulped in some air. You see I've been on this pilgrimage for seven weeks and I'm actually still just adjusting to coming back and speaking to people and talking and having regular conversations. It's just not something I'm used to so I was quite tired and eventually we came home and I absolutely knew I just needed to get out. It was like my head was almost hurting with having to concentrate and understand what someone was talking about and then concentrate on coming up with talking about things that I was doing in my life in order to make that small talk and I knew that the one thing in that moment that was going to refresh me was just to get outside into nature. So just imagine it now blue sky it's beautiful the yellowy green of the trees is contrasting against that blueness of the sky and this is a quite a cool damp lane I'm walking up and it's just I can just breathe in. It's just so gorgeous. There are some white cow parsley flowers coming out here on my right-hand side and the green is just intense all around me and how many different colors of green are there? I mean I don't have the language for all the different colors of green. Dark green, Light green, Lime green, Sage green, Just all the colors of green you can imagine and I knew and know that for me I have to listen into my inner compass when I feel that sense of a tiredness like mental tiredness the answer often for me if I listen in is to get outside whatever the weather it just so happens it's a nice day at the moment you can probably hear my dear old dog panting beside me it's a nice day here at the moment but usually it's just get out get out and it just acts as a catalyst for me when I'm in nature it feels like I'm coming home that makes sense just feels like this is my space where I can I don't have to construct answers or listen to things that I find hard to listen to because I don't find them very interesting so for me today and I'm gonna ask you the same question really is do you look after yourself do you give yourself time out in nature do you listen into that inner wisdom that guides you towards health and nurturing it's so important to do that whether it's the food you eat it's the company you keep whether it's getting out in nature or having exercise or sitting in the Sun or taking a break from the computer it's all so important and I just can't emphasize how important that is well it is for me anyway and I just want you to ask that ask yourself that question do I listen into my own inner wisdom my own inner compass and do I take a step towards that which is nourishing for me

Reviews

I had to 'escape' from a social event too yesterday. Sadly it was evening otherwise I would have been out in nature also. I find that one of my methods of self-care, when the weather is pleasantly sunny with a slight breeze, is to lie on the grass, looking up into the sky, watching the clouds (if there are any) and to just feel the breeze, listen to the bird sounds and other sounds going on and just be. It seems to invite an enhanced awareness and appreciation of all that goes on that we usually ignore, rush through or try to block out.