Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott on a wonderful summer's day.
It's blue skies,
White puffy clouds,
You might be able to hear the sound of the breeze rustling in the leaves,
The beech leaves that are thick,
Dark and green in the woodland next to me.
Beneath these trees there's a shadow that's being cast and the sheep and lambs,
The big lambs now,
They're sheltering in the shadow,
Keeping out of the heat as much as they can.
And today's Five Minutes in Nature is kind of following on a little bit from yesterday.
Do you remember we were looking at the different feelings that you might have,
Those unsettling feelings,
Feelings of,
Well I was explaining for me I might get things like I'm not good enough or imposter syndrome or I feel overwhelmed?
And today is just a reminder really,
A reminder for you to realise that you don't have to act on these thoughts and feelings.
In fact,
I would strongly recommend that you don't act on these thoughts and feelings,
At least not when they feel that sense of urgency.
The temptation when we are in unsettled or uncomfortable thoughts and feelings is that we want to get rid of those uncomfortable thoughts and feelings and we want to do it straight away.
And often what we see is that the way to get rid of them is to act on what they're telling us.
So for example,
If I get a loop of thought which is I'm not good enough or I'm not lovable and I feel uncomfortable with those feelings,
The feelings will let me know I'm experiencing this thought loop.
But if I don't realise what's going on and I think I'm not lovable,
Then I might go out of my way to be overtly nice and bend over backwards and do things I don't want to do to try and get people to like me,
To try and get people to love me.
So in essence what I would then do is I might go against what feels right and nourishing for me in order to try and chase this feeling of how can I get other people to love me,
To like me.
Can you see that?
And another example might be when I feel overwhelmed,
When everything looks and feels overwhelming.
And bear in mind my feelings of overwhelm and my thinking of overwhelm isn't actually telling me about the quantity of stuff in my life at the moment.
It's only ever telling me that I'm in overwhelmed thinking.
But if I don't realise that I'm in overwhelmed thinking,
Then I might get really busy trying to sort out my life.
Not just my life,
I might sort out other people's lives.
If somebody asks me to do something when I'm in overwhelmed thinking and feeling,
I might get very snappy with them because I think they're being unfair and putting on me.
Whereas if what I realise is my feelings of overwhelm are just telling me I'm in overwhelmed thinking,
Then the best thing to do is allow those feelings of overwhelm or those feelings of not being lovable to settle.
One of the biggest misunderstandings I get when I share this with people is that people think that what I'm saying is when you have uncomfortable thoughts and feelings,
Just don't do anything and they'll go away and you don't have to do anything ever.
But actually that's not what I'm saying or it's not what's being said here.
My experience is that when I realise that I am in the midst of an uncomfortable or unsettled thought loop,
I don't try and alleviate it.
I allow things to settle in my psychological system and as my thinking settles and like the weather,
It comes and goes and passes,
I don't have to do anything to make my thinking settle.
It will do it on its own.
When it settles,
I'm able to hear that intuitive wisdom and it's from that place I feel the nudge or I can feel the direction of travel.
So a very simple example is yesterday I was feeling overwhelmed.
I was feeling a bit lost in all the projects I had which felt like never-ending projects that were very enjoyable but weren't actually particularly business-minded but they were very creative and I kind of fell into my loop of oh I'm rubbish at business and you're not very good at this and you should do something to earn some money and you get it,
It's like the ya ya ya blah blah blah thought.
But because I really understood that there was nothing to do,
I didn't need to change my direction of travel,
I didn't need to try and get rid of this uncomfortable thought or feeling,
I just needed to allow it to settle and then when it settles I can listen to that intuitive wisdom,
That intuitive voice.
This morning I wake up,
I'm settled,
I listen in,
I realise I'm going in the right direction,
This is exactly the right direction that my inner compass is pointing me in.
Today is another day that I am stepping into this right direction.
So today is just about recognising that those uncomfortable thoughts and feelings are only telling you one thing,
They're asking you to settle in your mind and then from that settled space you will start to see the right direction of travel,
You'll be able to hear your inner compass.
So that's what we're exploring today and I'd be really curious to know your thoughts on that today.
