Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott where I get out and about every day in February and listen to the wisdom of nature.
And today you catch me on a walk,
It's a very grey,
I call it a grey flat wintry day,
Very cold and damp and I'm walking down a lane and as I was walking down the lane I came across a neighbour who was looking after a couple of dogs for another neighbour and we stopped and he had a chat.
And today I'm really reflecting on the sacredness of nature,
The magic of nature.
And he said to me,
You know I get up really early in the morning and you'll never guess what I saw the other day.
I said now what was that?
And he said well I get up to go to work at about 4.
30 in the morning and he said I suddenly saw this pair of green eyes coming straight at me and he said I just froze,
I was shocked,
I didn't know what it was.
And he said and then I suddenly realised it was a hare and this hare was being chased by a fox and the hare saw him,
Veered off,
Leapt over a double gate and disappeared into a field and the fox came to the gate,
Saw him and then did a complete about turn and ran in a different direction.
What a magical moment to see that part of nature which is normally secret and normally out of our reach and we never see but to see that right beside him what an incredible experience.
And I'm reminded as I listen to him talk about that experience,
About the magic of nature,
The way that we are connected,
We are inspired by nature and isn't that a beautiful thing?
Sometimes we can get so caught up in our lives and all the things that need to do and we do need to do things to get by in our society and culture,
I understand that.
But all around us there are little moments of magic and pockets of magic in nature and when we see them we really feel that extraordinary connection.
And for me building that connection with nature is really important and even saying that building that connection sounds as though it's a thing to do,
So I'm going to rephrase that because it's not really building a connection with nature,
It's allowing our minds to settle so that we recognize our connection with nature.
The temptation is to see that nature is something out there and we go out into nature to experience it.
The truth is that we are nature and when we see those glimpses of the natural world that usually just not part of our everyday interactions like the man seeing the hare and the fox,
When we have those glimpses of nature it blows on the spark that is already within us.
So we don't build a connection with nature,
We allow our minds to settle and then experience the connection that is already there.
And when we give ourselves time to really open our eyes to nature we don't need to see something so special as a fox and a hare in action.
We can just walk past a tree or walk past some plants,
Look at the sky and we can just be present to the incredible wisdom and beauty that is ever-present and all around us.
You see when we when we recognize our connection with nature then it makes no sense to damage nature,
It makes no sense to trash nature.
We realize that it is part of us.
In the same way that I wouldn't cut off my foot or damage my hand because it is part of me,
Well in the same way I wouldn't damage or hurt nature because she too is part of me.
So today it's about fostering that connection,
Blowing on that flame of connection and you can be in a city and still engage with nature.
But allow your mind to settle,
Be present and recognize that pre-existing connection and blow on the spark that is already there and feel your heart fill with the joy of nature.
