Taking things slowly

Friday video

Here is the transcript, but you get so much more by watching the video :)

Hi, it’s Dr. Denise, down in the wood, and I’m just taking things slowly.

I’ve been here for a few hours. I’m just listening to the birds and it’s so nice and peaceful. And I know at home I could just sit quietly and read a book, but there are always demands, aren’t there?

We notice things that need putting away, things that need cleaning, tasks to do.

It’s when we take ourselves outside of our normal environment. What we find is, there aren’t all these different things to do. We don’t actually have to do anything. We can stop doing and do more being.

And that is my joy of owning my own wood. And indeed, sometimes I come here and there’s a lot to do because woods don’t manage themselves and we give ourselves tasks to do. But particularly in the summer on beautiful days like this, I just want to spend time just being, and I want to encourage you to spend time just being.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the need to respect the Sabbath, not because I have a religious orientation, but I just think it’s really nice to have a day where you’re not focused on your phone or social media or any of these other things, and you can take time to be.

And for me, it’s time here in the wood. For you, it might be doing something else, but it’s just saying no to screens and saying yes to properly experiencing what’s going on.

I hope this has inspired you to do something or indeed to do nothing and have a day of doing nothing. A day just to be and see what might be.

Until next time, it’s Dr. Denise. Bye bye.