Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott.
Here I am on an October day leaning up against a grey stone wall up on the moorland of Dartmoor with my eyes half shut because the sun is out and it's a beautiful October day,
So warm the sun.
It's quite a stiff breeze and that's why I'm leaning up against the wall but in the shade or the the shelter of the wall what that means is the intensity of the sun feels so much warmer and not far away there are three sheep that are lying down sort of eyeing me cautiously wondering if I'm going to move and necessitate them having to get up but this is just a wonderful relaxing afternoon walk that I'm on.
Today is a reflection on listening in to what feels right for you for us for all of us in a world where often we look to our culture or society or we look to friends or family or our community to tell us what is right I'm asking you to do that but actually to listen within and listen deeply to what is right within your soul and don't be minded if what you feel is right is not the same as the messages you're getting from those around you.
I've spoken with a couple of friends who are of retirement age they're either semi-retired or looking to retire and I've had two very different conversations and they've helped me as I've reflected on what's right for me they've they've reminded me of the importance of looking within.
One of my friends is very successful she's been very successful in a business as a business leader and has worked with several organizations and is now semi-retired and she was explaining that one of her peers one of her friends is striving forward and is even finding more success in the world of the business world and the echelons of being higher up in the world of money and finance and the economics and she was saying to me it's really interesting because this friend that she's got almost seems to judge her for not taking a similar route not taking a step forward into more success but instead my friend she said what I really feel is important for me is to actually be around for my mum who is aging.
I feel very drawn to look out for her so she said I haven't given up work completely but I want space in my life to be with my mum and for me that was such a great example of somebody who's listened in to their own guidance system and has listened in to friends and has realized that what she feels with her guidance system which is about being a daughter about being with her older mum is actually the message is what she is drawn to do that's her purpose and then there was another friend who I was speaking to who was considering retiring as a teacher and she said you know I still want to do a little bit of work I was thinking of maybe doing some cleaning work and I became one of those voices in her life which said well don't you know don't do yourself down you're you could you know you've probably got many more things you could do if you wanted to work part-time don't think you have to do cleaning and she turned to me and she said well you know it's funny but when I was a student and I was doing lots of different jobs in kitchens and working behind tills and working in restaurants one of the things I actually really found grounding was washing up was having my hands in a bowl of dishwasher in a bowl of water washing dishes and just feeling really grounded it just felt like I was in a real in reality and I listened to her and I thought wow here am I being one of those voices of society voices of advice and she is listening in to what feels right for her and that's really what I'm asking you to explore today is to look within and firstly notice what you think society and friends and family think is the right thing for you to do and be respectful of that and also it's to look within and see what is right for you as you move forward in your life and trust it and just let me know how you get on with looking within and trusting what is right for you
