Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me,
Liz Scott.
And here I am on Dartmoor in the evening.
There are sheep grazing around me.
There is the deep green of the ferns that are still running up the hillside,
But they are starting now to tinge with yellow and orange around the edges.
People are out with their dogs,
Walking.
You might hear laughter and conversation because it's so still here at the moment.
It's very unusual for it to be so still.
And today my reflection is about looking back at Glastonbury.
It's the final reflection on Glastonbury.
And this final reflection takes in a question which I'm inviting you to reflect on yourself.
And it was a question that I reflected on right at the end of my trip to Glastonbury.
Now,
Just a reminder,
Glastonbury is a spiritual centre.
It's got both Christian and pre-Christian roots.
It attracts people from all over the world.
It's also renowned for having quite a hippie culture.
There's lots of floaty trousers,
People barefoot,
Tie-dyed shirts,
Lots of books on angels and spirits and crop circles and lots of just different things that are very acceptable and normal in Glastonbury,
But maybe would feel a little bit wacky in the mainstream world.
And the question that I was answering and the invitation is that you answer this too,
Is what would I like to get rid of?
Or what would I like to let go of in my world?
What is it that I'm letting go of?
So have a little reflect on that for yourself because I came to the answer when I got to the top of Glastonbury Tor and Glastonbury Tor is a mound of earth that you can see for miles and miles around because the ground,
The sunset levels are flat and it rises out of the ground and there's a tower on the top of it,
Very distinctive,
Quite an iconic landmark.
And I climbed the Tor along with dozens and dozens and dozens,
Possibly hundreds of people that day.
And myself and my friends sat on the top of the tour looking over a landscape that stretched on for miles and miles.
And that was the question we were asking ourselves.
We'd asked ourselves two questions.
One is,
What would I be open to in my life?
And that was a question I asked the other day here on Insight Timer.
But also,
The other question is,
What would I want to let go of?
And the answer that came to me as I sat on the dry yellow grass overlooking the Somerset Levels about what do I want to let go of in my life.
What came clear to me was a sense of the way that I try and fit in.
I try and fit in with people.
I try and not speak out so people get upset.
I try and keep my head down and not speak out of turn.
And it kind of been highlighted Glastonbury because here I was from the mainstream world.
At Glastonbury amongst many people who lived a very free and easy life,
The hippies that just were drawn to this place.
And I felt an affinity with those hippies because I too have a sense of the importance of spirituality,
But for me it's almost too wacky,
Too woo-woo,
And I'm not being disrespectful to believe or speak as they speak.
And I also have an affinity with the mainstream world,
The sort of regular world that I live in.
But this world doesn't feel quite right for me either.
It feels as though it's a culture of consumerism and greed and success and,
Again,
Striving to be something that you're not.
And so I kind of felt,
As I sat on top of Glastonbury Tor and I was straddling those two worlds,
I realized how out of place I felt in both.
And I realized that I just wanted to let that go.
I wanted to let go of how I should be or who I should be or how I should think and what I should believe.
Notice all those shoulds there.
And instead just allow myself to be present to who I truly am.
So for me,
As I sat on Glastonbury tour writing my,
What do I want to get rid of in my life,
Or what do I want to let go of in my life,
I just wrote that I wanted to let go of this,
I wanted to let go of my constant striving to please people,
To be something that I'm not,
And to really invite into my life a sense of who I truly am,
Speak my truth,
Be respectful,
But speak my truth and not always try and fit myself in with other people and seek approval.
That's what I got,
Being authentic,
Finding a way of being myself in the world.
And if you ask yourself that question,
What do I want to let go of?
What do I want to make space for in my life?
What would your answer be?
Let me know that.
I always love to hear from you.
And of course,
Don't forget to join me again tomorrow for another five minutes in nature.
