Encouragement Over Criticism - Feb 25

05:25

05:25

Encouragement Over Criticism - Feb 25

Rated

5

Type

talks

Activity

Meditation

Suitable for

Everyone

Plays

69

If you find yourself offering your opinion a little too quickly, it might be worth pausing to consider whether your words are lifting someone or weighing them down. In today’s 5 Minutes in Nature, Liz reflects on the gentle strength of giving feedback rooted in love—and how encouragement, offered with care, can help someone build on their foundation and create something that feels deeply meaningful.

Encouragement Criticism Personal Growth Emotional Resilience Nature Positive Reinforcement Nature Meditation Seasonal Visualization Feedback Approach

Meet your Teacher

Ivybridge PL21, UK

Meet your Teacher

Ivybridge PL21, UK

Transcript

Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott on a blowy blowy day up here on Dartmoor. I've come to my thicket of gorse bushes to try and shelter from a very powerful southwesterly wind and there's a cool edge to it as well and whilst I can see blue sky ahead of me this wind is racing in rain showers. It reminds me of April where we talk about April showers in the UK and April showers are where you get sunny spells and then the showers race in and they hammer down and then they race off again and it feels a bit like that today. It feels like at any minute the skies might open with another rain shower. And today I've just finished reading a manuscript that a friend gave to me. It's a book she's writing and she wanted a bit of feedback on it and I spoke about reading this manuscript a little while ago and today I'm returning to it because I've actually finished the manuscript and wanted to give her some feedback and it felt like a real privilege to read what she'd written, To understand about her point of view in the world and to be given the trust to read what she'd written on it and I know having written things myself what it's like when you hand it over to somebody else there's a real sense of trepidation at what they might make of what you have crafted for so many months and years and I was really mindful when I gave her feedback of two different experiences I've had in the past of feedback. I got an editor to help me with a particular book and the editor had a look at what I'd written and she wasn't quite as blunt as this but basically she said this isn't very good this isn't this isn't much good and you know it needs a lot of work and I remember the experience of getting that feedback and feeling it like a blow like I was like oh I'm no good at writing what am I doing doing this but I kept going and in the end I decided not to use this particular editor again I went with somebody else and she called herself a writing coach but she is also a book editor and I remember saying to her would you help me with this book I'm writing and her response was yes I'd be delighted and I said to her look I've written stuff and it's not very good so maybe I ought to start again and she said no I don't want you to do that I want you to send me what you've written and I want to read it and I sent it off to her feeling that sense of oh my goodness this isn't very good she'll tell me it's a load of rubbish why am I doing this but her response was really different her response was this is this is really good you've got some great foundations here and I want to build on it with you and that gave me hope it was like I had the foundations and she was going to help me find my voice create a way of sharing and articulating and expressing myself through words she was going to help me do that and she did and I was really grateful that she didn't just say what was wrong she pointed to how I could build up and create and improve on what I'd already written and so when I gave my friend feedback today that was so much at the forefront of everything which was I came from an absolute place of love I gave her honest feedback authentic feedback that was looking at what I saw in what she'd written and what I felt could be improved on today is not just about telling you how to give feedback we all kind of know that I think the difference here is that it's coming from a place of love and it's about building on what is already there that for me is what felt important today in acknowledging my friend who had written the manuscript for her book so that's what I want to share with you today is build on the foundations acknowledge what's working what's right and then support someone if they want it to build on those foundations further it's so easy to give those offhand opinions and critiques which aren't really rooted in how something might develop and evolve and grow and today in all your explorations and conversations with someone I'm asking you to look at the foundations of what is right with that person and what they're doing in their actions and rather than just tell them that they're wrong they should improve or this isn't right look at ways to build on what is already there I'd be ever so curious to know how you get on with that that's going to be my intention today as well as I interact with people let me know how you get on and do join me again tomorrow for another five minutes in nature