I took this photo two days ago, when a friend came out from London to “fill their cup” (see this recent post “are you tired or are you depleted?“) by taking a walk in the country.
Over the summer, this area has had much cooler and wetter conditions than normal, which has been not so great to enjoy the outdoors but has seen amazing lush growth of flora of all kinds. To add to this, the stewards of the downs in the area (actually, oddly, this is the City of London Corporation!) made the decision to minimise any cutting of grass or other human intervention over the course of the summer.
I regularly ride my bike across this area and have seen the wild grasses grow higher and higher. In recent weeks, I have also noticed some wildflowers start to emerge. So, as we walked to a local viewpoint on the nearest of these Downs, all of this came together as we looked around and saw this wondrous display of wildflowers.
Less than twenty minutes earlier, I had met my friend at the railway station, where they had then walked quite fast (as Londoners do) and was also talking quite fast.
It is a marvel that, in such a short time, we slowed to a stop, stopped talking and just stood and took in this magnificent display of wild nature.
I encourage you, too, to slow down when you feel the need to fill your own cup. For me, being out in nature is wonderful for that at any time of year, last week it simply happened to be wildflowers that I slowed down for.