Tiny
Changes
“True
life is lived when tiny changes occur.” Leo Tolstoy
According
to Google, today is Leo Tolstoy's 186th birthday. When I
looked for quotes by him, there was no lack, and most of them were
short and pithy like the one above. I found that interesting in view
of the fact that his books were extraordinarily long. I agreed with
the sentiment of most of the quotes I read. He wrote a lot about
humankind's unhappiness, why it is so, and how to change it. “Everyone wants to change the world, but no
one wants to change himself.” Another quote I liked: “The changes
in our life must come from the impossibility to live otherwise than
according to the demands of our conscience, not from our mental
resolution to try a new form of life.” Anyone who's run the gamut of fad-diets knows the truth of that one.
Most
of us want life change to be like fast food—instantly gratifying,
and requiring nothing from us but a bit of cash. Unfortunately,
that's not how it works. Even if we read all the self-help books in
the world, attend the seminars of the most famous gurus, adopt a
gluten free diet, gulp vats of unsweetened green tea, and stretch in
hot yoga steam until we shrivel, our life will not change until we do the inner work.
There is no substitute. In the words of Tolstoy, “Without knowing
what I am and why I am here, life is impossible.”
Tiny
changes...baby steps...inside, not out. That's what life is all
about.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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