Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott.
And I've climbed up onto the moorland in the early morning,
Soft light of the sun above me.
It's about seven o'clock in the morning and it's very peaceful.
Just looking around,
I can't actually see anyone.
I'm sure there are dog walkers around and about,
Just can't see them at the moment.
And from this vantage point,
I'm looking across to the South Hams,
Which is,
The South Hams is a part of Devon,
Which is a really popular area for tourists and visitors.
It's undulating scenery,
Lots of green,
There's little wooded areas,
There are fields,
Tiny little villages and communities.
And as far as the eye can see,
It's really rural and then it goes right down to the ocean itself.
This is a beautiful area to live and I love living here,
So I feel very fortunate.
And today I am reflecting on what I'm just calling,
Just Five Minutes.
And there's two little stories I want to tell you.
One,
Five minutes relating to a chore and one,
Five minutes relating to connecting with someone.
So let me tell you the one relating to a chore first.
So I,
Every time I get in my car,
In recent weeks and months actually,
I've got in the car,
Started driving and I've heard this clunk.
Now don't worry,
It's nothing to do with the car engine.
I've got on the back seat a bag that I filled up months ago with just some items from the house that I wanted to take to the charity shop,
The shop where you take items and pre-loved,
Pre-used items that other people can buy.
And in this bag was a saucepan,
A saucepan that I had really rarely used because it just wasn't really suitable for the way I cooked.
And it was the thing that would clunk,
Clunk,
Clunk every time I went driving.
And it would remind me and I'd think,
Oh,
I've forgotten to take that bag to the charity shop again.
And usually when I hear it clunk,
Clunk,
Clunk,
And this happened yesterday,
My mind goes into this,
Oh,
Maybe I should just stop off in the village,
Walk to the charity shop,
Take it to the charity shop and then I can get rid of it out of the car.
And hopefully somebody else can use these items,
Which are very lovely,
But just not suitable for me.
But it,
As always,
It went to my mind.
It's like,
Oh yes,
But I,
You know,
I'll have to park.
I'll have to walk there.
What if I can't find a parking space?
It's a long way to walk.
Do I really want to do that?
Have I got time to do that?
And I went through the normal repetitive thought patterns that I accompany this clunk,
Clunk,
Clunk that I hear on the back of my seat.
And then I go into this rather convoluted story that has me feel a bit like,
You know,
A bit deflated.
And I just thought,
You know what?
Today I'm just going to do it.
And I did.
And it took me slightly more than five minutes,
But it wasn't much more than five minutes.
Parked up,
Took it to the charity shop,
Got in my car,
No clunk,
Clunk on the back seat.
And as I was driving away,
I thought,
Why didn't I do that sooner?
Why did it take me so long to do?
That was so simple.
So simple.
So that's one story of five minutes.
Like just doing something.
We call it in our house,
We call it the five minute job that takes a year.
It's a simple little job that we keep thinking,
I must do,
I must do,
I must do.
But it takes ages to actually do it.
So,
Yeah,
That's one of the five minute stories.
And then the second five minute stories is of reaching out to someone.
And as I drive into my village,
I have to take a sharp right-hand turn.
And on the corner of the sharp right-hand turn is a house.
And she puts out,
Inside her house,
Always puts out pots,
Whatever time of year it is,
Pots of flowers and plants.
They'll change during the seasons and the spring ones.
And then this time of year,
She's got pots which are full of these big fat yellow begonias and purple lobelia and the greenery and the gloss of the leaves.
They just look really beautiful.
Every time I pass her house,
I smile because she puts out these pots.
They look really pretty.
She doesn't see them day to day because they're on the back door of her house or the back of her house.
But the people in the village see them.
And I just think that's really super.
So yesterday,
I've been meaning to do it for a little while,
I just reached out to her,
Sent her a little message and said,
Thank you for your flowers.
I just want you to know every time I drive by them,
I smile,
They're beautiful.
Thank you for doing that.
And she got back to me and was really pleased that I'd noticed them.
And I kind of thought,
Huh,
Why didn't I do that before?
Just took five minutes,
Five minutes.
So today is just five minutes.
And the two challenges for you is to,
If you want to take them and obviously let me know how you get on.
It's just take five minutes,
Five minutes to do that chore that you've been meaning to do.
And just take five minutes to connect with someone,
To say thank you,
Or just I see you,
Or how are you?
And just let me know how you get on.
