Humbled by small things?

Bigger is better, it draws our attention, we want the next big thing, we want our lives to be epic with a big purpose, we are impressed by the big shows, we are attracted and give meaning to the dawn and dust whilst ignoring the miracle of sunlight for the rest of the day, we seek out significant moments that tell the story of who we are whilst forgetting the ordinary majority of everyday moments that fall into the background. However it is in the background that life actually happens it is where the real magic happens, where we face a thousand little decisions and change our life one small step at a time, that is where our awareness needs to be, on the small things. The marathon is run in the year before the starting line, in the hundred early mornings and hot baths, the final day is just the confirmation that you have done all that work. It is the small things that bring joy and delight into the world, and that humble us when we least expect it, that trip us up and remind us how easily we are distracted, when we loss our grace and ourselves to our over inflated immediate opinions, that is where we allow anger, sorrow, depression to overwhelm us, be aware of the small stuff.

The small stuff is what matters, it makes up so much more of our life experience compared to the big moments, the perfect holiday is just two weeks long would you trade fifty weeks of misery for two? That is a choice that many people make, they work the weekly overtime, trade time with children for money, sleep less, live for the weekend, take the stress over quiet time, burn themselves out, never cook or knowingly eat healthy things, and there is nothing wrong with making these choices. We all have to do things we do not like to put food on our table, we make sacrifices, we give things up for a better positions, what is important is knowing the value of what we are giving up, and we have a bias towards the big things, so much so that we can over value them at the expense of the small things.

It might be part of our nature that we enjoy missions, we like setting our eyes on the largest thing and heading towards it, if we lived in an ancient village and we could see a mountain we were going to visit it, it would bring excitement into our lives, and yet if we had to walk to a well for water that would be a boring chore despite being a vital thing that was keeping us alive, the mountain would be more exciting, attention grabbing, we could talk about it for years, whereas everyone has to get water. We do not pay attention to the small things no matter how important because they are not special, whilst it is the water that is what keeps us alive, that is vital, if we were to build a piping system and saved everyone an hour a day walking everyday, no one would notice it within a year, it would just be a small thing not special at all, and yet if you built a grand road to the mountain that meant it took six day instead of seven day to walk there, it would be a marvel, a road to the gods, a symbol of powers, whilst those boring unimportant pipes was saving you fifteen days a years.

That is power of small things they work quietly and consistently in the background making your life better at the margins, start having enough small wins and improvements, and your life will be better, if you start eating better by having an apple everyday out of habit, that is only one small thing but over a lifetime it is worth any amount of crash diets, enough small habits, portion control, five veg, less carbohydrate, walking, less drinking and before you know it you have a healthy and happy life, it is not something you win once with maximum effort and you have it for life. In the same way you are not doing one big thing wrong, just not eating cake ever again will not change you, there are plenty of tasty foods out there, there will be dozens of traps and habits that are tripping you up, that is why you need to bring your awareness to the small things.

That is the thing with small things they are easy to miss, especially compared to the big mountains of our lives, we could be lost in the drama of pursuing our one true love, forget to work on ourselves and end up not being the person that our one wants to be with, at least by working on you, you are guaranteed to like the person you end up with, even if it just you. We can forget to enjoy the journey if we only concentrate on the big things that feel special and tell us a story about ourselves, we can ignore the real ordinary pleasures in just watching the world go by, drinking coffee in the morning, meditating, no one is going to give us a reward for getting a full night's sleep but we are going to be more effective in our day, be better in our relationships. It can feel like a small thing but an hour of under sleeping makes us a worse person in everyway imaginable and yet we want that extra hour to drink, watch television, put off the next day, it is only by being mindful of the small things that we can put a proper value on that ordinary hour of sleep.

We have the opportunity everyday to start noticing the small things by repeatedly asking the question was is happening now? Who and what is around you, what is different, we love to compare so take and advantage of it and look for changes in your environment, it will make you look at what is already there more closely, you might discover something you have not seen before. Then take the same attitude into every aspect of your life, ask how you are spending your time, to what purpose, how does it serve you, what are you getting out of it, is there something missing, is there joy, delight and meaning. Bring the small things to the front of your mind make them special and examined, ask are you serving me, do you bring me value and do I need new small things in my life, and if you ask the questions enough you too will be humbled by the small things that make up our lives.