Our Common Hours 1

One of the great paradoxes of life is that the little things are often the big things.

Anyone who has received a little blue box wrapped in blue ribbon with Tiffany & Co. on the outside will know what I mean.

We too often feel the need to achieve big things in life. Get the biggest job. Have the best holiday. Marry the most handsome man. Change the world.

However, it’s often the little things that function like layers in our lives. It’s not until we get the perspective of time that we see how the little things have built the big things.

The story  in Humans of New York  of a man who had lost his wife after 62 years of marriage touched a lot of people. Over 62 years of marriage the little things became important.

Romeo and Juliet didn’t know if they liked the same books or movies. It was just physical.

So often in relationships, and life generally, we think if life’s not the grand love story, the overwhelming emotional high or a crazy exciting adventure every day then we must not be successful or valuable or worthy.

So much of our lives were linked. We were very physical and affectionate. But we also shared every ritual of our life. I miss her every time I leave a movie and can’t ask for her opinion. Or every time I go to a restaurant and can’t give her a taste of my chicken. I miss her most at night. We got in bed together at the same time every night.

It’s the rituals of our common hours that are woven, built and put together that give birth to a big life.

Morning pages make me a writer.

Daily exercise makes me physically stronger.

Healthy eating makes me healthier.

Smiling at people makes me happier.

Responding to need makes me more compassionate.

Praying every day makes me more peaceful.

Rituals and habits build a way of life and choices set my direction.

And somehow, the little things become the big things. Our common hours become an uncommon life.

If we triumph in the little things of our common hours, we are sure to triumph in our lives. Unknown

Elaine