Emotion Toolkit.com

We’re moved by extremes to call forth great love and openness, but the small and ordinary things require our hearts in just the same way.  As we’re moved to show compassion to someone starving on the streets, we can be moved to compassion for someone hungry for a conversation.  As we might open to forgive a thief in prison, we can open to forgive a friend if they say something impolite or neglect to be considerate.  For the small things, forgiveness can feel like a dismissive wave of the hand.  “Okay, I’ll overlook this,” we grumble.  The heart is not stirred, because we hold on to the small entitlements, sometimes more than we cling to the large entitlements.  When forgiving the thief, the heart is stirred.  We feel the redemption of the thief, the unconditional love of the cosmos for the thief.  We can feel this for someone over a small thing and move forward open and pulsating with love.

This is fierce love brought into ordinary life.  Movie love, like a character compelled to make a heartfelt sacrifice for the sake of another.  She sets aside her own concerns without hesitation or a second thought, because she sees another in great need.  This determination and selflessness comes easily when the need is profound and acute.  Now how to bring this same determination, this same deep heart of service, into the small things.  Keeping the dishes clean and put away, being present when you’re tired, listening, buying coffee.  Rush in with gusto, your heart ablaze, to (as the Zen proverb goes) “chop wood and carry water.”  No need is too small to love big.