The Smaller Things.

Our biggest lessons can come from the smallest of things.

It might come from a smile, the stars in the night sky, a grain of sand at the beach, a sentence in a book, a scene in a movie, a word from a friend, a lyric in a song, a collective piece of art. For me today, it came from having coffee with two gentlemen - one i have grown to see as my mentor/friend and another i was meeting for the very first time.

We often think that to learn a BIG lesson we must go through a BIG trial however my experience leads me to believe that it's quite the opposite. Many of the biggest lessons that we can learn from are hidden in the smaller things of life. This past weekend i learnt some lessons from simply listening to how i speak - about myself, about others, about God, about life. It was interesting to see that although i noticed what i could be doing better, others didn't. It's not that they were bad friends but rather it was a method which i could learn things.

If we want to learn patience we might learn it in a traffic jam or by withholding the urge to jump the queue whilst waiting for our coffee. If we want to learn how to serve we might learn it by assisting that pregnant woman that doesn't have a seat or seeing the need for a pen whilst in a meeting. If we want to learn right-thinking we might learn it by speaking something positive about the person everyone chooses to bag out or by stepping back for a moment in a situation where personally adjusting your perspective will make a difference.

Whilst having coffee today, the gentlemen i had never met before challenged me in a few areas. One of them being the area of accountability. He said "Sex, money and power are three temptations every man (woman) should stay accountable for". He then went on to explain how each of these three areas can affect us all and be detrimental to our field of work (like Bill Clinton or Tiger Woods). When we choose to stay honest and accountable in these three areas, we then begin to prosper.

Private victories always precede public victories.

The other lesson i learnt was about failing. Once again this man i had just met challenged me in this area. He said "It's okay to fail as long as we understand the why. Learning to fail differently every day would look like progress on a chart. It's only when we fail in the same area again and again that the problems arise". We will all fail at some point in our lives, even if you try not to. But fact is some failure will always precede success. Learn from your mistakes, apply it to your life and choose to move forward with this new understanding.

So today, this week, this month, this year look for the BIG lessons that lie in the small opportunities.

ps bazz