Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott.
Oh it's a glorious afternoon.
The sky is blue,
There are little white wispy clouds.
I'm actually down in my village so you might hear people,
Children playing.
There's a lawnmower that's piped up behind me and I'm just taking a little stroll through the area of grass with a few trees in it.
I can spy there's a bench ahead of me that looks empty so I might make my way gently over to that bench.
And earlier on today I was up on Dartmoor and I listened and heard a cuckoo and saw lambs and ponies and foals and just really enjoyed being out and about.
It's such a glorious time of year.
And today's reflection is prompted by a conversation I had with a friend.
We're looking to do some work together and we are both in our 50s.
She's in her early 50s,
I'm in my late 50s.
And we were exploring what it is like to be an elder,
A woman who's moving into an older phase of life.
And we were just talking about some of the similarities we'd experienced as we shifted in our lives and I just wanted to share them with you and get your reflections as well.
One of the things that she talked about was noticing that she runs her own business and she said,
You know,
I've really moved from this drive and motivation and single-mindedness with my business to just feeling that that's no longer present,
That drive is no longer present in the same way.
And we explored that together and she said,
You know,
What feels true for me is that I feel as though I'm in a place where I want to contribute,
A place of contribution.
And that really resonates for me,
That sort of sense of wanting to be of service,
Of sharing,
Of being,
Of supporting others,
Of community.
And I too understand that different drive in my life,
Away from business and towards the space of service and contribution.
And I don't know if this is something that older women feel or whether it's when you become older,
Maybe men feel the same way too,
I don't know.
And I'm sure it's not every single woman.
But for me it was nice to affirm that I wasn't the only one that was experiencing this sense of wanting to contribute,
Wanting to be of service and also this deeper connection,
This deeper connection to nature,
To the wisdom beyond the intellect.
And that was also something that we talked about together.
And I began to realise that there must be other women out there who also feel something similar,
Moving into a different phase of life,
A transition phase,
Moving away from supporting children to finding a different motivation when it comes to business and work,
Wanting to connect with nature,
Wanting to be of contribution in the world.
And the phrase that really felt quite interesting to explore is this idea of being an elder in the modern world.
There is no template for it.
There is no real sense of what that means.
And yet I kind of feel in my bones that this eldership is something I am deeply drawn to and want to support and work with and be alongside others that are also drawn in this direction.
So my question to you is this,
If you are maybe in your 50s,
60s and you are shifting to a different phase of your life transitioning,
Does this make sense to you,
This sense of service and contribution?
What does service and contribution mean to you?
What does community mean to you?
Have you noticed a shift and a change in the way that you're turning up in the world?
So that's the first thing is just a reflection on service and contribution.
And then the second thing I'd be curious about is what does elderhood or eldership mean for you?
I'm particularly curious about this in the context of women,
But I'm also curious to know if you're listening as a man,
What it means for you.
Do you feel that draw to be an elder in the world?
And if so,
What does it look like or feel like for you?
How has it turned up in your life?
So let me know your reflections on that,
Being a service,
Being a contribution and your reflections on being an elder,
What that looks like for you.
And don't forget,
Of course,
To join me again tomorrow.
I'm here every day reflecting out in nature with five minutes in nature.
So I look forward to your company again tomorrow.
