The Greatness Of Small Things 

In praise of baby steps

There is something calling us.
It is hard to hear.
We are busy in a distracting dream.
We don’t really want to hear it.
It is not reasonable,
or realistic,
or adult,
or practical. 
It is disturbing. 
It feels like we are being called to make a grand gesture, jump off a cliff with no parachute, stand on the parapet, hold the line, ride the dragon, win the great race. 
We are not. 
Where we are called to is big but the steps we take don’t need to be.
It is better if they are not.
When we listen very carefully we are being called to take a baby step.
That is all. 
A baby step in the direction of our full heart. 
Not a giant leap. 
Not even an adult step.
Just a baby step.
We are being called to take the step we are able to take. 
And that is all.
A step in the right direction. 
But we see our full heart on the horizon and try to reach it in a single bound, trip on our feet, and land face first in, “responsibilities,” and “being reasonable,” and “being practical.” 
We console ourselves that no one else is answering the call and what were we thinking anyway?
Which is sad because the impetus was correct, it was just the size of the step.
Not all babies are the same.
If we keep reducing the size of our step until we reach the size we can make this is the beginning of movement. 
Staying within the comfort zone of our heart because any step in the direction of our full heart will feel deeply satisfying and be one step closer, albeit a baby step, to home.
Let us take the step we can take. 
Smile if you can.
Dance if you are able.
Breathe because, 
well, you have to. 
And since you have to breathe,
do it consciously. 
Enjoy that shit. 
Enjoy it all.
This moment is all we have to babystep our way home.

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Photo by Fausto García-Menéndez on Unsplash