The Great Life Secret of Smallness

Many people may say, “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” but those who say it possibly don’t imagine the power of such a statement when considering all of life (in comparative terms) is small stuff.

“In comparative terms,” it needs to be said, is the big disclaimer.

The individual’s right to worry, stress, grieve, and otherwise get emotional, is something that is sanctified between them and God alone. Or else, nothing is so big in comparative terms that it cannot be handled; yet, there are losses we experience that will overwhelm us. We can see the bigness and smallness of the problematic life hung in tension. Both apply, yet we can still see all of life is, comparatively, small stuff.

The Universe And The Power Of Smallness

Our universe is an example to us of the scale of things in this realm of reality. Fifty billion known galaxies and, still, we only get a sniff of the real issues when we get close enough.

Someone observing us from as close as the moon would have no idea about life on earth; but, in terms of the size of the universe they could hardly be closer.

We can well imagine others’ lives as viewed by us this way—the machinery of each person’s being is so complex. Yet, on the universal scale all is so still cosmically quiet.

Given the size of the universe, and the relative minuteness of our lives, all our problems pale into insignificance; even the huge ones. Yet, such is life that even small things (on the universal scale) have unique power—one single event has the capacity to upend our lives.

The size of big things and the intricate detail of small things—both are big, but the small thing is so small in comparison. Our problems in contrast with the larger universe are truly minuscule.

Standing Back To Look At The View On The Canvas

Artists will stand back for reflective moments in order to assess the development of their work.

The bigger things get, the further away we become, the more harmony is visible. The further we get past our peculiar quirks, anxieties, and concerns, in order to see, the more vision-of-reality on the universal scale we will perceive. We will begin to see things as they are—and how others see them—when we step back far enough.

The Paradoxical Need To Experience Grief

Held in constant tension with the above is every human being’s inherent need and irrefutable capacity to grieve losses, experience losing, and endure change; the process of adjusting.

If there was possibly an even more important life skill and practice than not sweating the small stuff it is skilfully grieving any and all losses; the art of majestically letting go. That done, we set about living lightly.

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There is a necessary need in life to grieve our losses. That accepted, we can approach the opposite reality: no problem in life is universally big. Not sweating the small stuff is a great life secret that appreciates the truth about smallness. When we live big lives, spiritually, the small stuff doesn’t overwhelm us so much.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.