The River Of Thought - October 26

It's easy to feel distressed by thoughts that want to linger in your life. However, if you see thinking like a river with leaves floating on it, then you can allow the river with thoughts to flow on by. In today's 5 Minutes In Nature, Liz reflects on releasing unsettling thoughts and letting the river current of the mind take them away.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott. Just imagine this sitting on a bench with my eyes closed, My head back, Feeling the warmth of the autumn sunshine on my face and feeling such a sense of gratitude at being here in the village where I live just taking time out to reflect and be with you as we together take five minutes in nature. The other day I was walking alongside the river and I noticed the orangey-yellow leaves that had fallen into the river and that would be taken downstream. And right beside the bank of the river it was much quieter, The water wasn't so fast flowing and the leaves were just in the water and I could see the trees reflected in the water and the leaves reflected in the water and it was just a very soothing time to notice the leaves, Notice the water and be present to the river that was flowing beside me. And as I noticed the leaves on the water, It reminded me of something someone had said to me. And I want to share it with you now because it's so helpful when you notice this when it comes to thought and thinking. We experience the world through the power of thought. We create a world through the power of thought. So thought translates what we see and hear and feel and touch into images and sensory experiences. And thinking as well, Which is, I kind of see it as the bombardment of talking in my head, Is another form that thought takes. Most of us, When we think of thought, We imagine we're just talking about thinking, But thought covers much more than that. But for this instance with you today, I want to just reflect on the thinking, That thinking voice that I have. I don't know if it comes to you in a voice or images or whatever it comes to you as. I'd like you to reflect on that for you. For many people, It's a very noisy place living in their heads. And someone described it like this to me once, That you have thousands and thousands of thoughts a day. And it's useful to see those thoughts that come into your mind a bit like the leaves on a river. The river is carrying these leaves downstream, Down towards the ocean. And there are hundreds and hundreds of leaves on the river flowing by you. And some of these thoughts we reach out to and we grab, Like grabbing one of the leaves on the river. So we have lots and lots of thoughts, Hundreds of thoughts, Thousands of thoughts that pass through our minds every day that we pay no attention to because we just don't think they're relevant. And yet some seem to be relevant to us. And when they feel relevant to us, We grab them and hold onto them tight. The thing is with thought is we don't realize that we are the ones clinging on to it. We believe what our thoughts and thinking tell us. So a habitual one for me, You'll have your own habitual thinking patterns and conditioned thought patterns. But one for me is about being overwhelmed, Having too much on, Having not enough time. And when I reach out and hold on to that thought, A bit like reaching into the river and holding on to the leaf. It's like it takes over my whole world. The whole world feels overwhelming. Everything in my world looks overwhelming. And what I don't realize is that I am the one holding on to that thought. So the invitation today is just to imagine your thinking and thoughts like leaves on the river. And sometimes we do grab out and hold a thought or grab out and hold a leaf. But as easily as we grab out and hold it, We can just let it go again and let the river take that thought away. New thoughts will come by. And what tends to happen is as we let go of those agitating thoughts and we let the river flow on with those thoughts, Fresh, New, Nourishing thoughts come along that we can allow into our lives and allow to take root. So today is just about noticing the thoughts in your life, The thoughts that rush by on that river. And have a reflection, What thoughts am I holding onto? What thoughts might I let go of? How might I enable fresh thinking to arise? Let me know your reflections. And of course, Don't forget to join me again tomorrow for another five minutes in nature.

Reviews

I agree that our thoughts create our life so we have to be careful of those self-defeating thoughts that drag us down. Engage in the thoughts that lift us up and empower us! Nature is wonderful for this and a reminder of connection and unity. I like the leaves analogy as it conjures up a wonderful visual of a stream flowing and different colored leaves floating by. I also like the cloud analogy when the thoughts are troubled.

Thanks Liz for your wonderful descriptions of nature 💗🙏☺️

One leaf, one thought I am hanging onto: how might I enable fresh thoughts to arrive? Now that’s a lovely thought to entertain! 💐✨

I loved your opening you sitting on the bench and inviting us to sit with you for this five minutes in nature.

I am thinking of my inner child this morning. How we as kids would place a stick in a flowing stream and have a race who's stick would get to the finish line first. Running along the bank urging our stick on. Carefree with no thought other than having fun.

Thanks Liz see you tomorrow. ✌️❤️

I love the analogy of thoughts being like leaves on a river. I use it frequently and for me it's not necessarily that I reach out to grab a leaf, it's that they get stuck in an eddy or current which means they go round and round in circles before the current changes and carries them away. Sometimes they flow past slowly and at other times, when the river is in flood, they zoom past before you have a chance to consider any of them. Either way I consider the thoughts as impermanent as the river will take them away eventually or they will rot away like the leaves caught near the bank.