Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott up on Ugbera Beacon.
In fact I'm sheltering behind the rocks of Ugbera Beacon.
These are granite boulders and I'm trying to stay away from the southwesterly wind which is very blustery and even though I'm on the opposite side of the rock to the wind I think I'm caught in a bit of an eddy here.
I keep feeling my hair blowing in the wind and I'm thinking how am I getting blown in the wind if I'm actually sheltering behind these huge big rocks.
Below me is South Brent,
A lovely little village that's huddled in the valley below and above South Brent I can see Brent Hill which reminds me of the peak of a meringue.
It's got that sort of triangular tip to it which is a hill,
A very distinctive hill on the landscape and I've walked quite smartly up to this point today wanting to really exercise my lungs and my heart and I'm just pausing now to have a little bit of a rest.
And the thing I want to share with you today is something I've been reflecting on in a rather delicious kind of way,
Just allowing myself to reflect on this particular statement which I'm going to share with you now and my request is that you give yourself a bit of time to reflect on it for yourself.
And the sentence I've been reflecting on is this,
You don't resist it because it's unpleasant,
It's unpleasant because you resist it.
So let me repeat that,
You don't resist it because it's unpleasant,
It's unpleasant because you resist it.
And one of the things I've been exploring with this is noticing how this turns up in my life and I can see one instance which I'm going to share with you which feels very true with this,
It's like the saying you might have heard is what you resist persists and I feel that this has got a similar sentiment really.
And as you know I've been going to the gym and one of the things in the past that I've really disliked about the gym is to be honest it's not really the activity of being at the gym,
It's my thinking before I go to the gym.
I find myself getting into a bit of a cycle of oh I don't want to go and it's a lot of effort and why am I doing this and I much prefer to stay in bed and have a lie in and all of those thoughts that in the past have rumbled through my head.
And on this occasion going to the gym and I've only been going for three weeks and I've no idea if I'll continue it,
However one of the things I've almost like said to myself is I'm not going to think about going to the gym,
I'm just going to get up and go,
A bit like I get up and clean my teeth,
It's like I'm just going to get up and go and that's what I've done.
And so when I came across this particular sentence,
I think I must have heard somebody say it,
I can't remember who,
You don't resist it because it's unpleasant,
It's unpleasant because you resist it.
I thought yeah I can see that that's true with my little illustration of going to the gym,
It's it's not really pleasant or unpleasant it's just going to the gym but the the real unpleasantness of it is when I resist it,
When I get lost in my thinking about not wanting to go.
And another instance came to mind as well,
My mum has got early stage dementia,
My dad had very severe dementia and died last year and so I know the journey that this dementia will be taking with my mum and when I turn up and see her it feels as though I have two options as to how I engage.
One is to feel a huge sadness and loss at my mum who is fading,
Who is fading physically but also fading mentally each and every time I go and see her,
So I could get lost in feelings of regret and sadness.
Or I could just turn up and be with my mum and nine times out of ten,
99 times out of 100,
I just turn up and be with my mum.
That doesn't mean I pretend I don't feel sad and I don't wish she didn't have dementia,
I just don't play with it,
I don't engage it,
I don't give it energy,
I don't give those thoughts energy.
And again I can see that that saying you don't resist it because it's unpleasant,
It's unpleasant because you resist it,
That seems to come true in that instance too.
The dementia is dementia,
It's the resisting of it,
It's the wishing it wasn't there,
That's where the suffering resides.
I'm ever so curious about what comes up for you when you reflect on this particular saying and just lovely to hear your comments and I'll give it to you one more time,
You don't resist it because it's unpleasant,
It's unpleasant because you resist it.
Let me know your thoughts.
