Let's Get Small

You may be capable of great things,
But life consists of small things.

Big things seldom come along. One should know the small as well as the big. We may all yearn to make lasting achievements and to be heroes, but life seldom affords us the opportunities to do so. Most of our days consist of small things — the uneventful meditations, the ordinary cooking of meals, the banal trips to work, the quiet scratching in the garden — and it is from these small things that the larger events of life are composed.

We rarely have the occasion to make grand gestures. The champion gymnast’s greatest moment is but an hour out of an entire lifetime. The works of great artists are viewed for very short times. The master musician’s best composition is but one work in a sea of musical tones. If we want to be successful, it is the small things that we should pay attention to.

We must not fall into the trap of waiting so long for the big things that we let numerous small chances slip right by us. People who do this are always waiting for life to be perfect. They complain that fate is against them, that the world does not recognize their greatness. If they would lower their sights, they would see all the beautiful opportunities swirling at their feet. If they would humble themselves enough to bend down, they could scoop untold treasures up into their hands.

Deng Ming Tao, 365 Tao

“Infinities and indivisibles transcend our finite understanding, the former on account of their magnitude, the latter because of their smallness; Imagine what they are when combined.” — Galileo Galilei

“It is not the greatness of a man’s means that makes him independent so much as the smallness of his wants” — William Cobbett

“Do not let yourselves be discouraged or embittered by the smallness of the success you are likely to achieve in trying to make life better. You certainly would not be able, in a single generation, to create an earthly paradise. Who could expect that? But, if you make life ever so little better, you will have done splendidly, and your lives will have been worthwhile.” — Arnold Toynbee

Peace is easily maintained;
Trouble is easily overcome before it starts.
The brittle is easily shattered;
The small is easily scattered.
Deal with it before it happens.
Set things in order before there is confusion.
A tree as great as a man’s embrace springs from a small shoot;
A terrace nine stories high begins with a pile of earth;
A journey of a thousand miles starts under one’s feet.

— Tao Te Ching, 64

In keeping with this theme, I certainly don’t have any great words of wisdom today. Only the thought that I need to take care of the mundane little things today – get milk from the store, do some laundry, clean things up around here that have been neglected. I spent a lot of the weekend cleaning out summer’s exuberance from the garden, trimming overgrown plants so the bulbs that are starting to come up can have a little room to grow and some sunlight, figuring out where new plants need to be planted. Here in SoCal that’s a fall task, so plants can grow a bit before winter and start their roots to be ready to take off in spring.

My blog is one of the small ones that doesn’t get a lot of traffic, just a little side track on the Internet. Which is fine with me. I like that I can post what I like and not care who reads it or doesn’t. I live my life pretty much the same way these days, taking care of what comes into my path, and doing the little that I can to help make the world, and my part of it, a nicer place to be. My home is small but suits our needs. Our children are in no rush to leave even as I see so many kids eager to leave their parent’s houses. They bring their friends to our house all the time. Our friends gather here and are comfortable. I have my small MoveOn group meet here, and do my little bits to change the political landscape, however slowly.

Yes, life is full of small things. We don’t have to do big things all the time. Just small things – with great love.