Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott.
Up and about on Dartmoor on a very grey,
Blowy old day.
It feels as though there's a battle going on between spring and winter and at the moment winter is still winning.
But I am so hopeful as the light continues to leech into the mornings and the evenings and the day stretches out with a bit more brightness I just know that spring is going to win eventually.
And today's reflection is about taking shelter which is exactly what I'm doing right at the moment.
I'm in a valley beside the Ludbrook and I've got my back to the wind.
It's a blowy old wind and today is all about taking shelter when you feel that the storm of life feels like an onslaught and that's what it can feel like sometimes.
And I want to share with you what I always,
Always bring this back to because it's the fundamental and most transformational piece of anything I've come across and that is this that when you are lost in a storm,
A storm of thought,
A storm of challenging experiences,
It's really good to understand that peace of mind doesn't lie in your circumstances,
Doesn't lie in what people say or do or behave.
Peace of mind always,
Always lies within.
Always lies within.
So if you remember we are spiritual beings or maybe more accurately to say we are a spiritual being taking form in billions of different forms as humans,
As animals,
As plants,
As the world around us.
We are a spiritual entity that is having a human experience of life and part of that human experience is that we forget that at our core we are peace,
Love and wisdom and we get lost in the storms of life,
The storms of thinking and thought.
Now with all the self-development I did over a multitude of years I always was led to believe that if I wanted to have a better life I needed to change my thinking or thought,
I needed to change circumstances,
I needed to have better goals,
I needed to be more disciplined.
It was a whole range of things I needed to do in order to be a better person and to have a better life.
And then when I came across the inside out understanding I realized something fundamental and that was trying to change my thinking,
Trying to change my thoughts,
Trying to change my identity,
Trying to be a better person was a waste of time because that wasn't who I truly was and who I truly was and who I truly am is the spiritual energy behind life and that spiritual energy is perfect.
It doesn't need changing,
It is love,
It is peace,
It is wisdom.
That doesn't mean that in realizing that I have an easy life,
No.
What happens is that I still get buffeted by the winds of thought and circumstances and stories and feeling that life's not fair and I feel frustrated and overwhelmed and those thoughts and feelings do pass.
There's not a lot I can do to get rid of them rather than not feed them,
Like don't make them worse.
All I can do is usually sit them out and today there is just an added bit which is when you understand that you're lost in these thoughts and feelings,
This onslaught that buffets you a bit like the wind today,
Then your wisdom will always be with you,
Guiding you,
Pointing you in the right direction and it may well point you to find a bit of respite from the storm,
A bit like I am in this valley right at the moment with my back to the wind and I'm just having a little bit of a breather from the onslaught of the wind and the weather and that happens too in my world.
Sometimes I need to take time out,
Sometimes I need to go,
For me it's about having time alone,
Maybe reading or walking or being in nature.
You'll have your own way of recharging your batteries and listen to your wisdom and if you need to just take a bit of shelter from whatever life is throwing at you in that moment.
Today is just a reminder of who you truly are,
Peace,
Love and wisdom and that sometimes you will feel buffeted and overwhelmed by the storms of thought and thinking in life and that isn't who you are.
Bring your attention back to who you truly are and if it makes sense give yourself a bit of time just to shelter from anything that feels as though it's quite hard for you to handle at the moment.
Give yourself time to shelter emotionally.
Thanks for joining me,
Join me again tomorrow for five minutes in nature.
I'm here every day walking out in nature,
Reflecting on life.
