root by root, leaf by leaf

Lately, I’ve found myself thinking about change and growth, about the unexpected paths we sometimes take through life, and the new journeys we find ourselves embarked upon.

See, when I was first asked to help lead and shape a center guiding folks in cultivating the mental toolsets to approach and improve their lives from a mindful perspective — I’ll be honest: my initial thought was why me?

I was humbled and honored, of course, but I wondered...how am I qualified to do this work? What wisdom, what personal capacity for growth do I have that could possibly be of use to others?

Around me were folks whose growth, whose personal development towered like sequoias; against them I am a novice, my own practice and experience hidden like a seedling in the shadow of their mastery.

That others saw a potential in me I hadn’t considered was surprising. The encouragement of others in my closest circles who encouraged me to take the opportunity, who assured me that this was such a natural fit, was revelatory. And it took a small while, but I realized that yes, this work was something I’d inadvertently, almost subconsciously been drawn to and preparing myself for quite some time.

Through small, meandering steps and ephemeral flickerings of realization, I’d been winding my way through the forest toward this pathway.

The details of the story — the places I found myself and the decisions behind taking certain important turns — are the musings for another place, but the short of it is this: on deeper examination, I realized that I was approaching this all wrongly.

We are not all sequoias reaching into the heavens. Some of us are that seedling, unfurling our first leaves into the sunlight. Root by root, leaf by leaf, we’ll grow, if properly nourished in the proper environment. We will be those giants someday…but today, right now, it’s alright that we are simply in the company of those giants. Those giants represent not who or what we should be, or aspire to be, but potential.

With exquisite care, we’ll realize that potential.

And so I welcome you to meander this path, to join me as we explore our own potentials by exquisitely caring and mindfully examining the frameworks of our lives.

Root by root, leaf by leaf.