Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott on Dartmoor here as the sun is getting low in the sky and I'm looking at my shadow that's stretching out in front of me on the yellow grass and then seeing over the top of the green of the ferns that cover the hillside here on Dartmoor and then down I go with my eye to the bottom of the hill where there is little copse of trees that are still green in this very dry weather that we've been having.
And my reflection today is one of reflecting back on Glastonbury.
I've still got a couple more reflections on Glastonbury.
If you remember the past two days,
I was talking about some of the places I was visiting and experiencing on my travels at Glastonbury.
And one of the ones I'd love to share with you today was the labyrinth that I walked in Glastonbury at St John's Church.
And the labyrinth was made on the grass outside the church,
And you could follow it around in a sort of weaving circular pattern,
A route that took you eventually spiralling ever closer to the inside of the labyrinth,
To the centre,
And then you would retrace your steps and come all the way back out again.
And we took in turns,
Myself and my friends,
Walking the labyrinth and just feeling what it was like to walk to the And it was early on in our trip of the day,
And I think maybe there was a little bit of thinking about,
Oh,
Am I looking a bit stupid doing this?
We hadn't yet been to the Abbey,
We hadn't been to the tour,
We hadn't been to the Chalicewell Gardens.
But there was something about walking the labyrinth that really landed for me,
And that's what I want to share with you.
The labyrinth,
And do look one up if you want to understand what a labyrinth is,
But a labyrinth is a way of walking in a spirally pattern where you seem to get closer to the center and then the path will weave away from the center and then you get closer again and then seemingly you move further away.
And it probably takes a good five minutes to slowly make your way walking through the labyrinth until you get to the centre of it and then there's only one way out and one way in,
So you turn around and you find your way back out of the labyrinth again.
And one of the things that came so clearly to me as I was walking that labyrinth was a sense of the simplicity of life.
When I didn't have to think about the journey.
The labyrinth took me in its winding way.
Around and about in seemingly circles at times,
Losing my sense of direction,
But ultimately it was taking me back to the centre of the labyrinth itself.
It didn't matter where I was,
Whether it seemed as though I was far away from the centre or close to the centre.
All I had to do was follow the track around and around until eventually I made my way to the middle.
And I just thought,
Wow.
What would it be like if I was able to lead my life like this,
Where thought was not needed to navigate because actually my path was already mapped out?
What would it be like not to overthink and concern myself with what was the right direction of travel?
That be?
What would be different in my world.
And what I love about these questions,
Particularly when I was at Glastonbury,
Is questions would come to me and would rise in me.
I wouldn't need an answer.
There was something about this that felt as though it wanted me to reflect on it further,
Which is why I'm sharing it with you now.
And the question I'm sort of reflecting on is,
What if my path is actually like a labyrinth?
It is moving in its direction of travel.
And there is a sense that I've got control and I can change direction and I can make decisions about where I go.
But what if actually?
All that thinking was unnecessary.
All I needed to do was to follow the lines,
To weave my way around,
And to know that I would eventually get to the centre,
Because that is where all paths lead,
To the centre,
To a sense of coming home.
So today's reflection is that.
What would it be like if actually our life were more like a labyrinth where we didn't have to make decisions and choices and overthink the past or the future?
What if life was guiding us to the centre?
What if all we needed to do was to trust the direction and walk?
Let me know your reflections and of course,
Don't forget to join me again tomorrow for another five minutes in nature.
