Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me,
Liz Scott,
And I might be a little bit out of breath.
I'm just getting my breath.
Today I've walked up Western Beacon,
Also known as Ivy Bridge Beacon,
And this beacon is just above the town of Ivy Bridge,
And it's a little bit further west than my regular beacon,
Which is Ogborough Beacon,
And from this vantage point I can look down towards Plymouth Sound.
Now the city of Plymouth is right on the edge of the ocean,
And Plymouth Sound is the inlet of the sea that swoops in and gives Plymouth its natural harbour,
And it's called Plymouth Sound,
And it's a wonderful vantage point.
Up here again I can look north over the rolling moorlands of Dartmoor.
I say again because I was up on the other beacon doing the same very recently,
And today I'm just reflecting on a conversation I had with a friend,
And for those of you that have been following my transition and progress and curiosity about what next,
I had the most extraordinary conversation with a friend.
I say extraordinary because she is a skilled listener,
And she gave me a real space and permission and curiosity for me to really share my heart.
The beauty of being with a good listener,
A really skilled listener,
A listener that's not just playing by the rules of doing listening,
Is that I found myself being able to take a step back,
And she was able to give me some authentic feedback about how she saw me and what she saw in me,
And so I want to share that.
I guess there's two things I want to say.
One is the power of finding someone who can listen well to you,
Is able to listen intuitively.
It's like an intuitive listener.
It's a real privilege to be listened to in this way,
And so that's the first thing,
Is if you can find someone who's able to listen in that way,
An intuitive listener,
Engage with them because what they're able to do and they are able to facilitate is that they're able to help you take a step back and see things from a different angle,
And that's exactly what I did.
I was in this place of curiosity about what next,
And she was able to give me some authentic,
Honest feedback about what she sees in me,
That she sees this ability of mine as a good listener,
As a skilled facilitator,
As someone who has still got something to give and is looking to share around supporting older women.
It was really powerful to take a step back and see those aspects of me that I hadn't seen with such clarity before,
And it mixes in with another conversation I had with,
Again,
Another female friend,
And I was sharing with her about my desire to support older women,
Maybe for them to become visible,
Or maybe for them to step into and feel that they've got something more to give,
And the comment that she made,
And again it was from a real intuitive listening place,
She made the comment that,
Well,
Maybe not all women when they get to this stage in life,
Maybe not all women want to give more because actually they've had a life of giving,
Maybe it is time for them to settle down and to have a quiet time,
And that struck me.
And so this is how I tend to be now with questions and curiosities,
I allow them to percolate,
And so what percolated from that conversation with my friend saying that maybe older women want this time to settle,
And what percolated from this conversation with my friend who is older than me and was a very skilled listener,
Is that it feels much more as though what I'm drawn to do is to support and facilitate and enable women to stand in the world in their power,
To take space in the world,
To stand grounded and rooted in the world,
And that doesn't necessarily mean that they have to go off and do anything,
It's just that rather than shrink back,
Shrink into the shadows,
They take up space in the world,
And they listen for what is theirs to do,
Whether that is to rest,
Whether it is to step forward,
Or whether it is to be creative,
It doesn't matter what it is,
They listen,
They are authentic,
And they are rooted in the world.
So I just wanted you to come up to date and bring you up to date with my reflections on what next as I transition into the next phase of my life as I explore working with older women.
