The Greatness in the Small Things

In the past two months I was feeling highly unmotivated, uninspired and generally lazy and low in energy. I wanted to do so many things – develop my blog; create recipes; find a new UX project; learn new skills; run some workshops or retreats; travel the world. Yet when it came to action, I felt no energy or drive, I was simply blocked in all of life’s aspects.

Spiritual practices have taught me that I need to let things be and accept the state that I am in. So, I did that, for a while at least. But then, after a few weeks, I started to feel frustrated and sad that the lack of energy or drive don’t go away. This off course just made me feel worst.

Spiritual wisdom in the time of need

Instead of creating, I found myself doing the only things that I did have motivation for – eating (sometimes too much), exercising and listening to spiritual wisdom (thanks good for audio books ????). I listened to books like The Untethered Soul, A New Earth and The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life.

One sentence by Eckhart Tolle from ‘A New Earth’ has caught my attention and touched me significantly:

“The great arises out of small things that are honored and cared for. Everybody’s life really consists of small things. Greatness is a mental abstraction and a favorite fantasy of the ego. The paradox is that the foundation for greatness is the honoring of small things of the present moment instead of pursuing the idea of greatness.”

This sentence made me reflect – Many of us, raised in the modern-western- capitalist society, learn from a young age that we need to achieve ‘greatness’. That we need to do “big things”, to have impact, to succeed. Therefore, many of us are constantly in a state of striving to get somewhere or do something, to reach a goal. For me growing up, the subtext was that it is not OK to be in a non-doing state or to feel a lack of drive, especially for a long period of time.

Unfortunately, what I didn’t learn while growing up, is that greatness is never about the external picture, like the amount of degrees, or amazing companies I get accepted to, not even the volunteering work that I do. It is doesn’t have anything to do with striving or achieving whatsoever.

Greatness is about loving what I, what we, do in each moment. In as many “now” moments as possible. Greatness is born out of creating what we love in the now, out of being ourselves. Even if that means at times doing simply nothing.

Letting go. Better late than never.

Going back to my story, after not finding the way out from my low motivation state for a few weeks, feeling sad and frustrated, I finally gave up on trying. I gave myself the freedom to be unmotivated, uncreative and lazy. This did not make me any happier nor did it bring back my motivation.

What in fact happened was that I found myself visiting more in the nature of Israel – quiet beautiful beaches; doing a vipassana retreat in the pastoral north; watching many beautiful sunsets; going to the amazing dessert in the south of Israel with friends and cooking them healthy meals. Letting myself live without any goal in mind.

Although no “progress” was done – my blog was ‘stuck’; no actual recipes were created; almost no money was earned from my UX work; no workshops or retreats were executed – something did happen. A shift in Energy. I started “receiving” my creativity back (was it ever mine to begin with? ????). Writing this post is a sign of it, isn’t it?

Did allowing myself the non-doing brought back my energy? I can’t tell for sure… Maybe it’s just time passing by, seasons changing. All I can do now is enjoy the burst of energy and share my experience with the world. A small thing done without a goal, that might be a part of a bigger greatness and might not. Both are actually fine.

“