Reflecting On The Year Gone By - January 01

Today's reflection invites us to pause and look back on the past year, honouring the lessons it has offered. Rather than focusing on plans or resolutions, this is a moment to acknowledge the growth that has come from challenges and to consider the gifts hidden within difficult experiences. This is the first in a series of daily nature-led reflections throughout January, offering moments to connect deeply with ourselves and the natural world.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott and each day in January I'm going to take you on a nature led reflection and today I am starting the new year up on Dartmoor which is very close to where I live it just takes 10 minutes to walk up onto the moorland and it's turning dark quite quickly because of course at this time of the year even though we've passed the shortest day it takes a while for the light to stretch out and the evenings to get lighter and Dartmoor is a wide expanse landscape it's got hills and tours tours are like granite boulders on top of hillsides granite is the rock so any boulders or rocks that poke through the ground are grey and it's an expansive landscape there are trees peppered here and there there's gorse bushes which is like shrubby thorny bushes in clumps there's a lot of green grass this is grazed by sheep and cattle and horses that roam across the moors and I find it very inspirational to come into nature and to reflect and that's why I'm bringing you out on my walks with me over the coming month you see I feel that the connection I have started to develop with a natural world over the last five years has really supported me I feel as though the earth is calling me that nature is calling me to reconnect to reconnect with her her voice to reconnect with her wisdom so I'm coming out with you bringing you with me as I reconnect with her wisdom and share some reflections that I'm having during the time that I'm outside in nature and today it's the beginning of the new year so today I want to start reflecting on the year gone by so often don't you find it that we're encouraged to think ahead and to make plans that's not what this is about this today this reflection today is about reflecting back on the year gone by and don't do this in an intellectual way don't don't sort of scrunch up your forehead and try and think back to what you did this year this is about reconnecting spiritually with what you've learned this is about sitting with and allowing the lessons that you've been shown during the previous year just to acknowledge them now some of those lessons and some of that learning might have been unwelcome maybe there was bereavement maybe there was upset maybe there were difficulties in your life however I know for sure that whatever has happened to you or is happening to you that there is a gift in what you're going through and what you've been through and that gift might not be clear at the moment so my request to you is that you take some time to reflect and to sink into yourself and to look inwards to consider what might that gift be for me what did the last year show me what have I learned what would I not have learned had I not experienced those difficulties or that hardship or that trauma I want you to be clear in no way am I suggesting you think positively or you put on a brave face this is about being authentic and true with what has gone before in the year and just being present to what you've learned and how you've grown spiritually because of what you've been through so remember today is all about reflecting and being grateful for the gifts even though you may have found the year difficult we look back first and then tomorrow we're going to look to the year ahead