Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott.
I'm still in my mum's garden,
Well sitting in the garden again,
On the bottom step now looking over her lawn which,
Well surprise surprise,
You've probably heard me talk about this so much over the last few days,
Is completely yellow.
Gone are all the flowers that were here,
Everything is shriveled up and crispy and dry.
And I'm reflecting today on kindness and being the recipient of somebody's kind thoughts.
You probably know if you've been listening to this for a little while that my mum had a fall the other week.
She's very elderly,
Quite fragile and frail on her feet and she had a fall the other day that meant she was in hospital for a couple of days.
And this weekend I was looking after her and have been looking after her.
And this was the first weekend that I've been looking after her since the fall,
Since I've been back from my holidays.
And I was having a little bit of trepidation about it.
I'd seen her last week at her brother's funeral.
She seemed very slow and disengaged and disinterested with connecting with anybody.
And I'd felt this incredible sadness.
Losing my mum.
I spoke to a few people that I was feeling a little bit anxious about coming here to look after her and what it might mean.
There's a real sense of grieving,
Even though she's alive,
When someone's got dementia.
There's a sense of grieving for them which I felt with my dad and I'm feeling again for mum.
It's almost like they're still here,
Their body is still here,
But we're losing parts of them.
And that's really sad.
It's just the way it is.
I was struck by a few things.
One was that my brother,
My older brother,
He's an incredible support.
And he just said to me,
You can phone me up and call me anytime you want.
And he meant it.
He was in London,
But he just said,
Anything you need,
Give me a call.
And he kept calling me as well.
To check I was okay so I felt hugely supported by him.
And then this morning I went out for a cup of coffee and I was in a coffee shop.
It was very early in the morning.
I went early because I wanted to go out and get back before my mum got out of bed.
And I received this text message from a friend who had spoken to in the week,
And she just said,
Really simply,
Thinking of you,
I know you weren't looking forward to looking after your mum this weekend,
Or you were a bit trepidatious about it,
If that's the right word.
Had trepidation about it,
That's probably the better way to put it.
And I read this message and I just felt quite teary that she had thought.
.
.
To reach out to me.
I was really touched that she had done that.
And then something else happened in the coffee shop.
There was a couple,
An adult daughter and her mum who was in a wheelchair,
And they were in the coffee shop.
And the mum spilled her coffee and the adult daughter sort of leapt out of the chair and sort of shouted,
Not at her mum,
But just like,
Oh,
Are you OK?
You know,
Was quite anxious about what had happened.
And there was an older gentleman in the cafe.
He was probably in his 70s.
And he just leapt up and said,
Can I help?
There's nothing to worry about.
And look,
We'll mop this up together.
And the lady behind the counter came,
And she brought a mop.
And then this gentleman said,
Look,
Let me buy you another coffee.
And he absolutely insisted that he pay for a refill of this coffee.
And just this spontaneous act of kindness.
Alongside the kindness that I had been shown by my friend and my brother.
I just had to keep the tears back.
I just felt deeply moved at the way that kindness flows like it does.
And it's for me it's a reminder to be A recipient of kindness is a sacred thing.
It really feels it.
And I know that when I am the giver of kindness,
When I am called to share that and be present and share my love through compassion and generosity and kindness.
Well I know that's an important thing too.
So what is this then,
If this kindness and compassion and generosity might be seen as a sacred act,
Whether you're the recipient of it,
Or whether you're the witness of it,
Or whether you're the giver of it?
It just struck me today that that felt absolutely so.
I felt that deep sense of being touched,
Being moved,
By the love.
The spontaneous love that was expressed in the moment.
Do you think these acts of love are actually sacred acts?
I'd love to know your reflections.
And don't forget to join me again tomorrow for another five minutes in nature.
