It’s The Little Things – Falling Leaves

There is a wonderful side effect of yoga. It is surprisingly underrated and under-shared. It’s an increased capacity for a super power. Yup. Get ready to put your craving for Marvel movies aside. We possess powers.

 

People tend to look for big things. Big moments. Big trips. Big relationships. Big feelings. Big bank accounts. You know what that serving of fries needs to be? BIGGER.

 

But true power lies in the little.

 

Little things.

 

Tiny notes.

 

Quick glances.

 

Small chocolates.

 

Quiet whispers

 

Mini Coopers

 

Okay maybe not that last one, but it’s my favorite type of car.

 

Yoga increases our ability, our super power to notice the little things. By asking us to go slower, notice breath, tiny and sometimes intense sensations in the body our awareness expands. By waking up to these things, we get the chance to culminate tender moments that, when strung together, create a pearl necklace of stunning, natural beauty.

 

I wanted to use the next few weeks to get small. Slow down. Focus on the little things that sustain us. The minutiae of life we sometimes miss yet surround, and reside inside us. Unbeknownst to us they often guide us. The tiny phenomenons that marvel and confound. Sometimes, due to the fullness of life, they are entirely ignored by us.

 

The first tiny power house I’d like to address?

 

Falling leaves.

 

Tis’ the season after all.

 

This Monday, I watched one spiral, spin, flit, flutter and float it’s way to the moment of its anticlimactic, wistful landing. I realized how lucky I was to catch this snapshot. This 30 second flight that was all year in the making come to its quiet close.

 

And then I realized. No. This was years in the making. Decades. That leaf abandoned a branch attached to an oak tree at least 50 if not 70 years old. All the years of rain, sunshine, drawing nutrients from the soil concluding in this moment of photosynthesized flying. That I happened to look up at that precise moment to take in its quick, yet stunning trip to the ground. What were the chances?

 

Now obviously we can’t get caught up in every leaf falling from the heavens. We’d get nothing done. You’d never get invited to a party if all you did was go on about the glory and majesty of falling leaves.

 

But to get lost in that moment? It was so relaxing. Freeing. Soothing.

 

This is precisely the power of the little – the ability it possesses to draw us back to the peace of the present moment. To grow appreciation for the smallest yet most potent portions of our lives.

 

I want to get lost in more “falling leaf” moments. Which is why I invite you to keep in touch with these blog writings for the next few weeks. They will be appearing, floating into your field of vision on more than just Wednesday morning. Pockets of peace. Invitations to practice presence for the most accessible things we sometimes miss.

 

Try not to miss them. Moments that are years in the making deserve your attention. They will happen whether or not you see them. But to see them? It is a free gift.

 

Free – small word. Powerful concept. So free up a few moments. Let the little things liberate you.