I read the words of Swami Sivananda next to a photo of a man meditating on a mountain top: “Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.”
The meditating man demonstrated focus, doing one thing and doing it with his whole heart, mind and soul, but when I thought of small acts, I pictured washing the dishes, petting the dog, changing the car oil and weeding the garden – activities of daily living, some shared and others reflecting our unique preferences and differences.
Sivananda’s words go right to the heart of what I’ve been thinking lately and what underlies a new minimalist approach I’ve been using with coaching clients and with myself. Focusing on one small aspect of life and getting it right so it feels true, lined up, unobstructed, satisfying and joyful, is all that is really needed for everything else to work too. When we focus with our whole heart, mind and soul on even our smallest acts, the ripple effect takes care of the rest – inside and out.
I have a client who is focusing on nourishing herself: on menus, food shopping, preparing and eating in a healthful way. She says that the more she gets this aspect of her life flowing easily, the better she feels, the more energy she has and, what’s more, everything else seems to fall into place easily.
Another client is focused on creating a great morning experience for herself – stretching, eating a good breakfast, thinking positive thoughts, setting an intention for the day – and then noticing the impact that new focus has on the day ahead. She is relieved any of the weighty subjects that fill her thoughts. All she has to do is create a great morning experience for herself. She’s having fun and ‘get’s that how she begins her day predicts how the rest of it will unfold.
We are overwhelmed with long to-do lists that weigh heavily on us. In addition to the undone stuff, there are the unfulfilled dreams, the unrealized potential, the if wishes were horses stable. It’s enough to make you want to take a very long nap or finally learn the lesson that keeps coming back again and again, from different angles, taught by different teachers but always the same. – there is no need to look elsewhere, it’s all here, now, keep it simple, small is better. The more we stay in the present, focus on the task at hand, learn to calm the mind and soothe our energy and take pride and joy in the small acts and moments that make up our lives, the more the bigger picture changes too.
My coaching teacher said we are holographic beings and that, as with a hologram, taking a slice of any part of it, contains all the information contained in the whole. A strand of hair contains your DNA as does every other part of you, no matter how tiny.
When we eat well and work out, we feel and look good. We’re more likely to dress well, strut our stuff and enter into new experiences and relationships with greater confidence. Other parts of our lives start feeling and looking better too.
There is great power in doing one small thing, doing it well and opening the locks (as in the Panama canal) so the benefits gained in one place ooze here, there and everywhere.
It’s a Peace is Every Step approach to life and, as I see it, a spiritual truth, organizational wisdom and a recommendation for how to live.
Remembering, as Sivananda said, that the secret of success is to put your heart, mind and soul into even your smallest acts – what small act will you put your heart, mind and soul into today?: playing with a child, mopping the floor, balancing your check book, working in the garden, practicing scales, writing a letter, making a sale, cooking a meal or holding the hand of someone you love – try putting your heart, mind and soul into it and see what happens. May success be yours always.
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