Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me,
Liz Scott.
I'm just beside a hawthorn tree looking at its rather resplendent red berries.
It's been a delight all year round the hawthorn.
I've watched the leaves come out,
Those fresh lime green leaves,
Right back in spring and now I'm seeing the hawthorn with its berries and of course earlier in the year I saw the blossoms as well.
The hawthorn marks the year and it is a little bit of a signal and a reminder of the year and its passing and today my reflection is about the mundane.
I actually was talking to a friend today and we were having a conversation and as she was speaking I wrote down something that was triggered or prompted by the conversation we were having and the words that I wrote were the joy of the mundane,
The joy of the mundane.
And we were talking and she was explaining that for her at the moment with her children she's just realised that from the best of intentions she's been probably over stimulating them or giving them too much attention or trying to protect them too much or to give them a sense of guidance or over guidance when actually she could see that that wasn't what was being required.
She was being required to take a step back and as she spoke she was explaining that it would be useful for her children to get a sense of what it is to experience the mundane.
She said often I fill the gaps,
I don't allow them to experience that which is mundane and I've seen that so much.
We have a long summer holiday in the UK,
Sort of six weeks it was in August so it's a long time gone and I've often noticed that young people are always doing stuff,
Lots of activities and clubs and when I was out the other day I was out at a breakfast we were treating ourselves to a breakfast out and I looked across on the table and I saw a familiar sight and it's not a criticism at all it's just an observation of a family with two children and the children were on their phones it was almost like even just waiting for breakfast was too much there was there was a need for stimulation and I hold my hand up too I reach for my phone often when I feel the need for stimulation too and yet there was something in what she said today that really landed for me and maybe it's for me in my learning which is the joy of the mundane.
I remember when I started as a child started out on the summer holidays six week break I loved the thought that these holidays were going to stretch out seemingly forever and one of the reasons they seem to go on forever is that I didn't have a lot planned in them and I loved that I loved the sense that I would experience the full length of these summer holidays I found that really delightful to consider and in my life now I often find I will look at my phone or I will find something to do and yet there's something about being in a reflective steady rhythmic place I'm looking back on my notes of the pilgrimage that I undertook in March and April this year and one of the things I read in my notes and listen as I listen to my audio notes is that I enjoyed the sense of being in a reflective frame of mind as I walked I called it the walking reverie I would just walk without much on my mind and I just found that very meditative so yes I'm curious about the mundane and what that might mean what does it mean to you being in a space where you appreciate or experience that which is mundane it doesn't need to be an empty space for me the mundane opens up a place of reflection of being with ritual and routine and allowing what needs to arise to arise in the moment without trying to stimulate or force my mind in a particular direction but I'd be really curious to know what turns up for you when you reflect on the joy of the mundane do you experience it as a joy or do you see that which is mundane as very very different let me know I would really love to hear from you today
