Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott.
Every day in January you find me out and about listening to nature's wisdom and today's wisdom is really clear.
It's a message of me slowing down and I guess I'm asking you to reflect on that for you too.
I'm actually walking up a lane it's quite close to my house and the takes me up onto Dartmoor,
The moorland above my home.
You might be able to hear in the background there's a stream rushing down beside the lane and if you imagine it it's quite a narrow lane with high banks on either side and there are trees growing up on either side as well and they create a tunnel.
It's almost like I'm walking through a tunnel of branches that are inviting me to walk up up up onto the moor.
And so why is this a lesson in slowing down?
Well when I went to leave the house I was actually feeling quite chilled.
I'd been working in my office all day on the computer and the house isn't that that warm particularly at this time of year and I just felt I needed to do a very short sharp walk up a hill to get my circulation going and to start feeling warm again.
Now I've got a dog a very elderly dog and I knew that if he was to come it would be a very slow walk.
The advantage of him being elderly in one way is that he's actually quite deaf and he was asleep in my office and I thought if I creep out of the house I'll be able to get out of the house without him realising.
So that's what I endeavoured to do.
I crept out of the office and I found my coat and hat and gloves and then crept out towards the back door which is the way out of the house and sure enough I don't know how he knew because he certainly didn't hear me but he knew something was going on and I could hear him getting out of bed and making his way to the back door and then looking at me,
Fixing me with a stare,
An imploring stare with his deep brown eyes which just said can I come too and ah my heart melts when I see that because he's the most gorgeous dog but he is slow.
So I caved in and I said yes come on then and we've gone out for this walk together.
So rather than me steaming up the hill and getting warm I'm meandering up at the pace of my very elderly dog and it's actually quite nice to go at this pace.
He just moves from side to side up the lane.
I'm just watching him now as he trudges up and he'll keep sniffing different things and sometimes he'll even walk backwards because there's a particularly interesting smell.
I just have to go at his pace and for me it's actually quite a good reminder of the importance of slowing down.
I'm looking at the muddy leaf strewn lane or at least it used to be leaves but now they've just disintegrated into this brown mushy earth-like texture and I'm just taking my time and as I was walking up the lane a neighbour passed me and we stopped and had a little chat and I just realised it's so important to slow down and these encounters with different people that I have,
Bumping into them and seeing what people are up to and connecting with other human beings,
Well isn't that part of life?
And it made me realise that sometimes in an endeavour to speed up or to do things more quickly I actually miss out on so much.
Today I would have missed out on just seeing the sun as it glances off of the trees here highlighting the greenness of the moss that is running up the trunks.
I would have missed that.
I might have missed that leisurely chat with a neighbour as we exchanged pleasantries about the walk that she'd just been on.
I definitely would have missed this lovely space of connection with my old dog.
He's such a dear old dog and I feel very blessed to have him in my life.
So all of these things I would have missed if I'd gone out on that fast walk just to get warm.
So my request for you is to reflect on what life is asking you to do when it comes to slowing down.
For me it's a really important whisper in my soul and the winter in January is a good time to reflect on slowing down because everything has slowed down in January.
What are you being invited to do in your life?
How might you slow down?
My request today is that you reflect on this wisdom for yourself.
Reflect on whether it's time for you to slow down and to consider what you might then encounter and enjoy if you slow down to the pace of life.
