Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott where every day in February I take you out and about whilst I go walking and together we listen to the wisdom of nature.
And I'm out in an evening and this is the first evening this year where I've really really noticed that the days are extending,
They're getting longer and it feels so exciting.
When the winter solstice happened and when we were in January I remember knowing that the days were going to be getting longer but not really noticing them.
But now I can notice them and it's the gorgeous time of evening.
It's very grey and it's dimpsy and we're moving towards night time and if I just stare up at the sky I can see the moon above me and I don't know if you can hear there are still birds singing,
There is still daylight and they're really enjoying the daylight too.
And it just is a wonderful reminder that the light does return.
It does return.
Those days in winter and January where it just felt dark and dreary and long and the darkness seemed to go on forever,
The light does return.
And there's real hope when we get to the solstice,
For me anyway,
Where I know that we are moving into a different phase of life,
A different phase of the year.
And it feels like there's real hope but it's not until now that I actually absolutely see that the nights are shortening,
The days are lengthening and spring,
Where there's signs of spring all around but this is a sure sign that spring is on its way.
And it's so useful to realise that even in moments where life feels really tough and dark that there is hope and light and the light will return.
And sometimes it takes a while,
Sometimes it takes quite a long time before that sense of lightness comes back into your life.
My dad died last year and he was very elderly and it was his time to go.
He had bad dementia and he was quite poorly at the end so when he actually died it wasn't unexpected but it was sad,
It was a transition,
There was a real shift in my life that a page had turned and I was moving into a different phase of my life.
And there were times where I felt really sad,
The grief was there even though it felt like it was natural,
It was the right time and it was the right thing that had happened.
I felt quite low and sad and discombobulated for quite some time and there are now moments,
A bit like in the lightness of the evenings,
Where I am starting to feel that flicker of love and hope again.
And it comes for me and my dad when I remember moments in my life with him.
He was a kind father,
Before he got dementia we had such a lovely relationship and I'm starting to remember those moments with him again.
The light is returning and I know that whatever I go through in life,
However tough or hard it might seem,
The light will return.
It might not do so straight away but it will return.
So that's the message I want to share with you today,
Is that if you're going through something that's tough in life,
Just remember it will get lighter and one day you'll go,
Ah it feels as though something has changed,
Hope is back in my life and I feel a sense of lightness return once again.
