Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott.
Strolling on a very still dry day up here on Dartmoor.
Just below me the ground is marshy and wet.
We've had a lot of rain and the water is held in the peat soil here.
It's like a sponge Dartmoor.
Many of the rivers that flow down to the coastline rise here on Dartmoor.
And as I stand with my back to the marshy area and look up the hill I can see many sheep grazing.
There's dog walkers out and about.
It's one of those lovely spring days that are very understated but very very welcome.
And I've just come off a call with a client and she is such a wise lady.
She was talking about how much she enjoys the conversation.
It was a coaching conversation and as we talked she said to me,
I feel like I've just gone all over the place but I feel so much better at the end of the conversation.
And I really resonated with that.
For me that's how it feels when I find someone who listens with well-being listening,
A skilled listener.
And if you want to know more about well-being listening have a look at my introduction course on Insight Timer.
When you are listening from a place of groundedness and solidness and you're listening to the true self,
The true nature,
The wisdom,
The well-being in the other person,
So it's as though you're listening from your wisdom to their wisdom,
That's what I call well-being listening.
It's a really nourishing way to listen to someone and it's a really nourishing way to be heard.
And so what tends to happen when someone listens to me like that is that as I let loose all the stories that are running in my mind,
There's something about getting them out into the air,
Getting them out,
There's something about getting them out it's though I'm almost like laying them all on the table or these little thought loops and as I lay them out on the table I'm able to choose which to take forward and which I realized no longer serve me.
And in fact my client said today,
She said yeah it's a little bit like unloading a suitcase.
I've been dragging a suitcase around and what I'm able to do here is just unload that suitcase as I speak to you.
I was reminded actually of a story my husband told me,
He's a golfer and he told me the story of somebody who was working with a professional golfer and this person was their caddy,
In other words when the golfer went and played golf the caddy carried the bag and gave advice to the golfer on the way round.
And on this particular occasion the caddy was finding it really tough carrying the golf bag and it was only when he got to the end of the round when the golfer with a glint in his eye,
A glint of mischief said take a look at the bottom of the golf bag and as the caddy unloaded all the golf clubs he saw at the bottom of the golf bag a couple of house bricks.
The golfer had played a practical joke on him and put these house bricks in the bag and he unwittingly had thought he was the one that was getting unfit as he lugged this bag around,
Where in actual fact there was an erroneous load that he was actually trying to carry around with him.
And it just reminds me of the thought that we take with us in life,
When we don't realise that it's thought,
Thought loops,
The feelings of guilt,
The things we should have done,
The things we think we need to do,
When we feel those weighing heavy on our soul we don't realise that they're just made a thought and we can lay them down,
We don't have to drag them around with us.
So today my request is that you reflect on the burdens that you are carrying around unwittingly.
Maybe it's things that happened in your past,
Maybe it's things you feel guilty for,
Maybe it's things that you're worried about in the future,
Maybe it's stories about how your life should be or should have been or relationships,
How they should be.
If you notice a should or an ought you're probably carrying a brick of thought that's unnecessary in your bag of life.
So just notice it,
You don't have to get rid of it,
Just notice what you're carrying around and how tiring that is.
And as you notice it let me know what you see for yourself.
I hope you are able to release some of the burden of thought and I look forward to connecting with you again tomorrow as I take you out for another five minutes in nature.
