The Calm Beyond The Mist - August 1st

As a sea mist rolls in, Liz loses sight of a familiar landmark along the Scottish coast. It reminds her that, just like the mist obscures the view, moments of insecure thinking can cloud her peace of mind. But the landscape is still there—unchanged. In today’s 5 Minutes In Nature, Liz realises that just as she trusts the landmark remains behind the fog, she can trust that her inner calm and security are always within—she knows where to look.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott and you find me once again on the Scottish coastline, The northeast coastline of Scotland just near a place called Dunbar and I've been walking along a clifftop path and the sea mist has rolled in so I can see just below me the rocks and the water but any more than probably 30 or 40 foot out all I can see is greyness and this mist has inspired two conversations that I want to share with you so this will be part one and we'll look at part two tomorrow because the mist is such a great metaphor. Many people are curious about the inside-out understanding and what it actually means and for me coming across the inside-out understanding and the three principles it just gave me a gateway into looking within myself and I don't mean looking within myself within my body I mean looking within myself to the connected consciousness and energy of all things the energy that connects all of us and looking within bringing my awareness away from the distractions of the outside world of the things I might see feel taste touch bringing my awareness away from the thoughts and imaginings I might have my thoughts about the past or the future my plans bringing my attention within to that settled space within me that space of connection where I feel a sense of contentment and knowing that for me has been the biggest shift for me in my life and the three principles also known as the inside-out understanding has been a vehicle for me to experience that and to find a pathway towards looking within so why is this mist like a metaphor well I know that from the place I'm standing at the moment is I can see something several miles away called the law of North Berwick or North Berwick law is a very distinct hill in the landscape it's a conical shaped hill in what seems almost like quite a flat landscape and it's extraordinarily distinctive it's several hundred feet above sea level I know I've climbed it I know the views from the top are amazing I know it's a distinctive landmark in this landscape even though I'm not actually in North Berwick at the moment I can see it from this vantage point apart from of course today I can't because the mist has come in it's so helpful to know and to realize something that you know absolutely absolutely to be true so for me the knowing that I have of looking within to that space of clarity and connection within is very similar in a metaphorical term as to knowing where to look to see this distinctive hill on the landscape the North Berwick law the conical hill the distinctive landmark in the mist all I can see is a few hundred yards in front of me but I know that on a clear day because I've seen it from this vantage point I know on a clear day I can see that hillside very distinctively in a landscape and that is what it's like when I find myself as a human losing myself in thoughts and insecurities and uncertainties in my mind it's a bit like the mist descending and I feel a little bit lost and disorientated but what I've got is an unshakable knowing of where to look of knowing that what I'm looking for exists within me and I know it in my bones it's the same as knowing that this hillside exists even though the mist today surrounds it I absolutely know that it exists so my question to you is what do you know in your bones exists for you what do you have absolute certainty about