Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott and it's exciting to see the first signs of spring.
There are catkins floating in the wind off the branches of trees around me here up on Dartmoor and the sound of birds around and about.
There's a real sense that things are waiting just to burst into life.
It's my absolute favourite time of year and today is a reflection on being yourself,
Being authentic,
Allowing who you truly are to shine into the world.
As I look around me and I know that there are different seeds that are below the earth waiting to grow.
There are nuts like acorns or chestnuts that have the potential to take root and grow this spring.
I know that primroses and foxgloves,
Campions and stitchworts are already beneath the earth ready to break through when the time is right and for me that's a great reminder for me and for everybody about who we are in the world and what we bring to the world.
It's so easy to look around and to see something that you're not and think if only I were that person,
If only I were that person that is so good at writing,
This is me in my case,
If only I were that person who's so good at artwork or if only I'm that person who when they do a crochet project it actually looks beautifully finished rather than mine which always look very handmade,
If only,
If only.
And it reminds me that this is about me bringing my Liz plant into the world.
It's like the seeds that have been planted beneath the earth,
The Liz seeds are taking root and growing and showing the world who I am but I am me.
I am taking form and taking a creative form in the world that is my unique form in the same way that the foxglove will grow tall with beautiful pink flowers and the primrose will be squat and hidden among dark green leaves with a beautiful powdery yellow.
We're not meant to be the same,
We are meant to be different and we're meant to glory in what it is we are in the world.
Yesterday on my walk I bumped into a neighbour who's a very wise woman.
She's retired from her job and she was telling me about the volunteer counselling she's doing at a hospice.
She's supporting people who are bereaved or people that are about to be bereaved,
Supporting them on their journey through grief and grieving and as I listened to her and I heard the sense of spaciousness and love in her voice I knew that she was bringing to the world exactly what was right for her in that moment and holding the space for others who were in a place of upset and sadness and I realised she was bringing her love to the world and this was the form it was taking and again and another woman I bumped into yesterday on the dog,
She was walking her dogs and she talked about a retreat that she's running and the excitement she was saying about this singing retreat that she had people booking up onto and she was so thrilled and as I listened to her I realised that she was absolutely being herself in the world,
Taking form,
This energy,
Creative energy was taking form and creating a retreat,
A singing retreat and women were booking on it to be connected and to feel this sense of nourishment on her retreat.
This was her taking her shape in the world.
So my question to you today is what form are you taking in the world and don't compare yourself with anybody else this is about you feeling your seed,
Your potential and feeling what roots are in the ground and what is going to emerge above the surface and whatever it is,
It is perfect because it is you.
It might be grand,
It might be big and it might be small,
It might be the way that you interact or care for somebody you love,
You love very deeply or it might be the way you engage with your job or it might be what you feel compelled to create in the world,
Doesn't matter what it is but what is the seed of potential that you have that you're being asked to share in the world.
Let me know,
I'd love to hear what your thoughts are on this and I look forward to joining with you again tomorrow as I return with another five minutes in nature.
