Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott up on Dartmoor and the sun has just dipped behind the hillside.
It's the evening and you can probably hear the sheep bleating in the background.
It seems as it gets cooler in the day and the evening comes the sheep are a little bit more vocal.
That's what I'm finding.
They're often quiet during the day but in the evening that's when they come alive and they're scattered all around me grazing.
The ewes have been shorn,
So their coats are very tightly clipped,
But the lambs,
Which are now pretty much fully grown,
Have still got the fluffiness of wool on their coats,
So you can distinguish the lambs from the ewes.
And this evening I'm pausing,
Standing,
Just surveying the South Hams,
Which is the arable landscape,
The farm landscape of the district I live in.
It's called the South Hams,
Which is below me.
And whilst the sun has gone behind me and I'm in a little bit of shadow,
It's gone behind the hillside,
It's still shining out on the landscape ahead of me.
So the greens and the browns and the yellows of the fields,
Which are all diced up with dark green hedgerows,
It's like they're illuminated and looking very serene and peaceful in this evening light.
And last night I came across something and I'm going to share it with you and just want to reflect on it and get your thoughts on it too.
And I heard somebody say that the journey was the destination.
The journey was the destination.
And it was one of those things that had me pause and reflect and think,
What does that actually mean?
The journey is the destination.
And the more I reflected on it,
The more I liked it.
And for me,
It really resonates.
You see,
I've been on many journeys and every time I go for a walk you could say I'm going on a journey.
Last year I walked the pilgrimage which was 630 miles of walking every day for 48 days.
That for sure was a journey.
And I got to think that,
Yes,
You know,
It's right in many ways.
It looks like getting to the end of the journey is the point of it,
But actually.
.
.
The journey itself is the destination.
That is the point of a journey.
And then I reflected not just on the physical walking that I've done,
But on life as well.
You know,
It looks like I've set myself little goals in life to record these insight timer pieces,
For example,
Or to work with a particular client or to write something or to be creative.
It looks like I've got a destination that's like,
I'm going to do something in order to get somewhere else.
But that's saying the journey is the destination.
Well that suddenly changes everything for me because it makes me really aware that everything that is unfolding in my life is the purpose of life.
It looks like I need to do something else and get somewhere else.
But that isn't the purpose.
The purpose of life is to live and be with the unfurling nature of it.
And as it unfolds in front of me,
And I experience life as it unfolds,
That is the destination,
That is the purpose,
That is the point of life.
What's your reflections on that?
Can you see that for yourself?
Many a time I speak with people,
Clients in particular,
That are aiming to get somewhere else.
Maybe in their job,
They're getting to the end of a year,
A financial year.
I work with people in education.
Maybe it's a school year.
They're looking for results.
They're looking to motivate people.
They're looking always to get somewhere else.
Wonder what you and I and we all miss when we're so focused on where we want to go that we miss the journey that we're on in the moment.
So that's today's reflection and I'd love to know your thoughts on it.
Can you see that the journey is the destination?
Can you see that the purpose of life is to live life,
To savour it,
To feel it all,
To experience it all?
It's not about getting somewhere.
Life doesn't stop.
It's not that we get somewhere and then we're there and that's it.
Life is constantly evolving.
And I see that as I am present,
To the evolving nature of life and present to life itself.
Well that to me seems where the richness and nourishment actually is.
Let me know your reflections on that.
Is the journey the destination?
Let me know your thoughts and don't forget to join me again tomorrow for another five minutes in nature.
