Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me,
Liz Scott.
I'm sitting at Diddersham.
It's not far from where I live and it's on the edge of the River Dart.
And Diddersham is where my mum was brought up.
This is where she had her childhood,
Right on the edges and the banks of the River Dart.
And not far downstream,
Probably about six,
Seven miles,
Is Dartmouth,
Where the River Dart winds its way out into the ocean.
And here at Dittersham it's tidal so the tide is out and I can see the muddiness on the edge of the water there's a heron right on the water's edge there are gulls I can see strutting around crows digging into the seaweed that's been exposed there's a dad and his two kids looking in the rock pools that have emerged enjoying this just time out and about on the river and oh you might be interested to know So as well,
Just a little historical fact,
Is that Agatha Christie was born in Torquay,
Which is not far away from here,
It's the Crow Flies,
It's on the other side of the river.
But when she was a famous author,
She bought a house right here opposite where I'm sitting,
On the banks of the River Dart,
At a place called Greenway.
And you can go and see her house to this day.
So today's reflection is all about slowing down.
We started it yesterday.
Do you remember I was out in the dark,
Really reflecting on just this sense of being present.
And it's the same here.
I feel this thread actually of connection to my past,
My ancestors.
So those that lived on the river,
Worked on the river,
All those many generations ago.
And I feel a real sense of connection to this place.
And in that connection,
I feel like there's a falling away of all the things,
All the identities of who I'm not.
When I can really get this settled mind that helps me connect to who I am.
I'm just watching a couple of dogs go by now,
Scotty dogs with their owners,
Walking along this rather muddy shoreline,
Enjoying being out in a quiet,
Calm,
Sunny day or tundra day.
It's really beautiful.
But this is such a contrast to yesterday.
Yesterday,
My sister and I,
We went to a sale.
It's something we never do.
It was a clothes sale and we'd been told by various people it was really worth going to and it was really good bargains.
It was good quality clothing and we just thought,
Oh,
Let's just do it.
So we went down to this clothes sale.
It was in a business unit,
So it's not,
It's not a retail shop and there were mismatches of sizes.
You couldn't trust what the size said on the label.
This is why it was all for sale.
And there were hundreds of people in this business unit,
All women,
Pretty much,
Trying on different clothes on the floor of the warehouse,
Piling up what they wanted to take.
And we joined in and we had a real laugh,
Actually,
Because we haven't done that for ages,
Go clothes shopping.
And we selected a few items of clothing that we thought we'd quite like to take home with us.
And then we saw that the queue to get to the till was so long and we stood in it for about 20 minutes and I realised that it was going to take over an hour to actually get to the front of the queue to pay for these clothes and I just looked at my sister and we smiled and we said oh let's let's just go so we left the clothes were in the warehouse and we we headed off but we'd had such a good time but it was such a different environment than it is today.
And I rather like that even in that frenetic environment where there were lots of people trying on clothes and there were people trying to get bargains,
Even then in the midst of that busyness,
My sister and I,
We felt very still,
We felt very connected and enjoyed ourselves and then realised when it was time to go that was fine,
We just went,
We didn't feel we had to buy anything.
So today's reflection is that you can find that spark of joy,
Whether you're sitting like I am in this most beautiful location,
Watching the boats go by,
Seeing people walking along the shoreline,
Catching the sight of the clouds as they scut along in the sky.
I can feel that sense of peace here,
But it doesn't mean that you can't feel it in other occasions.
And in that completely contrasting occasion of trying on these clothes and being in this place,
Which was as busy as any place I've been for a long time,
I still connected and found that space of joy and love and settledness within me.
And it was really good to do that,
To know that whatever the circumstances,
I can stay connected.
I can stay connected to who I truly am.
I'd love to know your reflections on that sense of connection whether you're in a place that feels busy or beautiful or quiet.
Do you notice that?
Are you able to fall into that place of connection regardless of where you are?
I'm not sure I can do it every time but it's good to know that it can happen.
Let me know your reflections and of course don't forget to join me again tomorrow for another five minutes in nature.
