Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott.
And here I am just above my house.
There's a little group of trees in a grassy area.
I'm just about two minutes away from walking home.
And I'm just pausing because can you hear the sound of the birds?
It's amazing.
I love it.
This really is the sound of spring.
And this village where I live is right on the edge of Dartmoor.
And we're very blessed to be in a rural area.
There's hedgerows,
There's trees around.
You might hear the occasional car or child playing.
And I'm just immersing myself in a bath of birdsong.
The grass here is quite long.
There are daisies aplenty peppering the grass white.
There are yellow dandelions that are poking through.
And also the heads of dandelions that have become seed heads.
Round and waiting to be blown.
Blown in the wind.
And as I listen to the birds I'm reminded of something that feels so pertinent for me in my life at the moment.
Each bird has a distinct song.
I don't know all the bird songs.
I don't know half of the bird songs.
But I do know that if I listen I can distinguish different birds singing in the trees and calling and being heard.
And what I love about this,
What I love about the birds is that each and every bird is singing its own song.
The blackbird sings its song.
It doesn't want to caw like a crow.
The crow is happy to caw and doesn't want to call out like the cuckoo.
The cuckoo calls out in its very distinctive spring call and it doesn't want to fill the air with the melody of the skylark.
Each bird sings its own song.
Each bird is an expression of itself in the world.
When I consider my expression in the world I find this so helpful to remind myself that I am unique.
You are unique in the world.
We are unique expressions of creation in the world and each of us will express ourselves in a unique way.
And the question for me is not whether my way is the best way or the most tuneful way or the loudest way or the most distinct way.
The question for me to ask myself is whether I am honestly and truly and authentically expressing myself in the way that wants to be expressed through me.
There is no point trying to be someone else.
There is no point trying to pretend I have a song that is different than the song that is mine to sing.
And the question I'd love you to ask yourself is what is the song you are being called to sing in the world?
What is it that you are being asked to articulate?
How are you being asked to express yourself in the world?
How is creativity wanting to take form through you?
So today let the birds remind us of creative expression,
Of the uniqueness of our voice and let's each and every one of us express ourselves in the way that wants to be expressed and to sing our song in the world.
