Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott up on Dartmoor on a cool evening.
It's just glorious to get out when the sun isn't beating down with such intensity.
And it's lovely to be back here on Dartmoor.
Yesterday I was looking after my mum in Exeter.
Today I'm on Dartmoor.
Dartmoor is on my doorstep.
It's a real blessing to be able to walk out of my house and then walk up to this wonderful open expanse.
There are four Dartmoor ponies right beside me and two of them are scratching each other.
They do it with their teeth.
And it's very clever.
One of them will scratch the other on,
Say,
The back,
And that other pony will know that that's where the itch is on the one that's doing the scratching.
So they end up mutually showing each other where they're scratching,
And then they mutually scratch each other.
It's a very cooperative process.
And today's reflection comes about from Richard who left a comment and I just really appreciated this comment today.
He said,
He sometimes says to himself,
I forgive myself and give myself permission to start again.
I forgive myself and give myself permission to start again.
And I just really liked that,
Particularly the bit about giving myself permission to start again.
And what I love about the comments that you leave here on Insight Timer is that am learning alongside you.
It's like we're a group of pilgrims walking through life together sharing our wisdom and insight and we are fellow explorers.
And what I love about this idea of giving myself permission to start again is that today has been one of those days where I've just felt a little bit.
.
.
In my head is a good way to put it.
I'm still trying to work through the formatting process of the book that I'm writing and this is a book about the seven week pilgrimage I walked last year and the pilgrimage itself seems like quite a doddle compared to the editing process of writing the book.
I just felt a bit frustrated at my slowness with the technical side of things.
So I was doing that and then I had a conversation with a friend And this friend caught me probably at not a very good time because I was so scrunched up in my head reflecting on the stuff I was doing on the computer that I just wasn't really in a state of flow and presence speaking to her.
And as it was,
She was absolutely on transmit.
She was full of all the things that she was doing.
She was really excited.
She wanted a fellow listener Who was going to be as excited as she was and I just I just wasn't in that frame of mind So I listened as best as I could And was kind of grateful when the call was over because I just felt like oh that was hard work And I know that all that is going on is that I just get lost in some repetitive thinking and stories I'm telling myself about life and I know not to take it seriously and we've talked about that.
We've talked about that before it's really helpful to know for me that when I get lost in my thoughts and my moods and my thinking,
Particularly when I'm feeling low or flat or frustrated or guilty or anxious or worried,
It's like it's really helpful not to take any notice of those feelings.
It's really helpful not to take any notice of what my thinking is telling me when I'm having those feelings.
It is not to be trusted,
My thinking,
Particularly when I'm feeling a little bit anxious or worried or frustrated.
So I knew that today.
And yet there is also a little bit of me which is like,
Oh,
I should know better than that.
I should know better than to get lost in these thoughts and feelings and to feel the intensity of frustration and the flatness of not being good enough.
I should know better.
And of course,
There's no answer in telling myself off.
And all that happens is I berate myself even more and I get into even more of a cycle of despondency and frustration.
So this little comment from Richard was just really apt and giving myself permission to start again.
And as I walked up onto Dartmoor tonight,
Sort of reflecting on the day and realizing I've been feeling a little bit mentally scrunched up in my head,
Sort of with a frown on my face,
Is that,
Okay,
I don't need to analyze anything.
I don't need to make amends.
I don't need to beat myself up.
All I need to do is go,
Today has been a little bit of a tricky day for me,
And I give myself permission to start again.
And what I would like to do for you is give you permission to start again too.
You don't need my permission,
Obviously,
But I just want you to reflect on that for you.
If you've been feeling a bit lost in guilt or anxiety or worry or frustration,
Whatever the feeling might be for you,
And you really feel like you need a bit of a reset,
You don't need to analyse or get to the bottom of things.
You don't need to have serious conversations.
You don't need to do all of these things.
All that you need to do is give yourself permission to start again.
And then from that settled space,
See what nourishing actions want to happen.
Let me know your reflections today on giving yourself permission to start again.
And of course,
Don't forget,
I'll be back again tomorrow with another five minutes in nature.
