Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me,
Liz Scott.
You know,
It's a gift to be heard without being judged.
If you feel doubts and insecurity,
A space of non-judgment is delicious.
It's extraordinary.
Today,
We visit the hawthorn for inspiration.
Hawthorns on the moors of Dartmoor are stunted trees.
They stand individually,
Scattered across the moorland.
They stand out against the green acres of carpet-like grass and the luscious bracken that surges up to waist-height,
Smothering the ground.
We've had a lot of rain recently,
So despite being in the middle of summer,
Everything is verdant.
When you are up close to a hawthorn,
You can see its bark swirl with knots and ripples.
Part of the barks are shiny,
Places where animals have been rubbing up against it.
When I pause and take the time to truly appreciate the hawthorn,
I marvel at it as a work of art.
There is one hawthorn on Dartmoor that is very special to me.
It is the place I go when I want reassurance.
Whenever I walk past,
I touch its trunk or smooth its branches,
Or I admire its flowers or leaves or berries.
It depends on the time of year.
Today,
In the middle of July,
It is in full leaf.
It stands isolated and solitary in the landscape.
When I feel insecure,
I sometimes see it as a loner.
When I feel empowered,
I see it as strong,
Making a stand on the moorland.
It is a wonderful tree that mirrors my moods.
It is also a wonderful listener.
When I stand beside this hawthorn,
I sometimes hug it.
Embracing its slender,
Misshapen trunk,
Or I press my hand against it and ask it to listen.
The hawthorn is a beautiful listener.
It takes me as I am.
I don't need to speak out loud,
But sometimes I do.
Mostly,
I speak telepathically and it listens and absorbs what I say.
So why is this hawthorn such a wonderful listener?
It reminds me of three aspects of listening that are such great reminders for all of us.
Firstly,
It is rock solid.
Secondly,
It does not judge.
And thirdly,
It doesn't give advice.
So let's look at it being rock solid.
What do I mean by rock solid?
When I am present to the hawthorn,
I can feel its roots pushing deeply into the earth,
Going deep down into the soil.
And I am grateful to be heard by something so grounded.
I can lean against the hawthorn and it stays sturdy.
I have seen the gales and storms howl through its branches and seen how it bends and rolls with the force of the weather.
Its branches and leaves whip and flick with the power of the winds.
I know when I speak to the hawthorn that its roots go deep and it is sturdy and grounded.
Nothing I say will shake it from its foundations.
I am safe in whatever my mood and in whatever I want or need to say.
The second area is that it does not judge.
When I am with the hawthorn and it is listening,
I can be totally me.
Sometimes it listens to my insecurities and fears.
I might feel unworthy or unloved.
I might feel like a fraud or I'm being mean.
Sometimes I whisper my dreams and aspirations,
Ideas that I dare not share with others for fear that they might see me as strange or weird.
Sometimes I pour out a sense of gratitude and joy.
It is a friend wanting to congratulate me on my life.
I know it won't be envious or jealous and I know I don't need to edit what I say.
Sometimes I am sad and bruised and in need of solace and quiet.
Whatever I am like,
The hawthorn takes me as I am.
It does not judge.
And thirdly,
It doesn't give advice.
I don't want advice.
The hawthorn doesn't try to be helpful.
It doesn't see me as needing to be fixed.
It doesn't suggest I try something or do something.
The hawthorn just listens and as it listens,
I find myself hearing my own wisdom.
The unsettled and confused thinking is not where the answers lie.
The answers lie in my deeper wisdom and it is good to hear that wisdom from within myself.
Listening gives space for that wisdom to arise.
I feel so grateful to the hawthorn,
So grateful to the way it enables me to be myself.
The hawthorn is a great reminder of the gift of listening.
