Not all of us can do great things, but we can all do small things with great love
Mother Theresa
Doing Small Things With Great Love
On today’s quote of the day, I want to focus on dreams, passions and their negative impact. Yes, it is rather opposite to what we usually talk about. I do admit – most of our articles focus on how we can achieve great things in life. The energy these dreams/passions can push us towards is quite fascinating.
However, there is a small danger I want to focus on with this quote analysis. Yes, it is brilliant to build a dream and have a dream which is most fascinating. But these dreams have a purpose – they are supposed to goad us into action.
The moment these dreams prevent us from getting on to a few tasks – either because we think they are beneath us or too small – then we are opening up a danger. It is great to be fascinated by large goals, but small things are really important too. On that note, today’s context is about doing a bloody good job at what we are doing.
Bust the Myth of Large Goals!
This certainly counters my previous post about having large goals in life and pushing ourselves to achieve that. I also took a negative stance on having small goals because they don’t push us enough.
However, we do have to quell the myth of large goals. As fascinating as they are, they do take a certain time for us to get there. The small goals certainly help, but they are not the be all and end all of it.
Our actions truly define us. We all can have lofty dreams and some of them may take a little more time than we are prepared for.
But, is that an excuse for us to do a bad job at what we are doing?
Does everything we do have to be great and lofty?
What do these small things mean? Don’t they define who we are as people?
What is the quality, standard and value we are willing to stand for
Our Actions Define us, dreams are great, but actions make all the difference
What do you stand for?
One of the reasons why I feel so strongly about this quote from Mother Theresa is because it asks the question – what do you stand for?
It may sound a bit disparaging if someone tells me that I might not be able to do great things. But there is a positive angle to this – it is about how I do the small things.
Am I going to do a great job at what I am at? Yes, I may not like everything about it – but surely there are parts of it I do like.
The question is – am I doing justice to what I stand for as a person? Do I contribute to the standards I hold myself for? And the standard might be to do a great job at efficiency or kindness or whatever we associate ourselves with?
What qualities define you?
Now, I want to focus on the secondary part of the quote – doing small things with great love. I want to ask this question – we all have multiple facets of our personalities.
What do you stand for? What does your personality define you as?
Does it call you an efficient, loving, passionate, kind, generous …? You can see where I am going with this. The point is – there are so many things which you can associate yourself with. The dreams are just a part of you – but not entirely who you are.
Your Actions Define you
Your actions define you as a person. The aspirations are a positive push. The moment they start becoming a pressure point, they lose their charm.
There is no point in having a dream if it adds a lot of pressure to your daily life. The energy/motivation or the push needs to be positively compelling.
The moment it takes a negative one, the dream is as good as dead. After all, it is the journey – not just the destination isn’t it?
Small Things with Great Love
I do think the beauty of this quote is in doing small things with great love. I can probably use a different word – commitment, passion, joy and so on.
It can be quite fascinating to see the amount of fulfillment we can get out of the things which give us joy. There can be that joy in some anger or fit of rage which can achieve fascinating things. But let’s not get this lost in the melee of large goals and dreams.
There is a huge amount of joy in making small things kick off and make a huge deal!
References:
Image of Mother Teresa: Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA
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Usually I never comment on blogs but your article is so convincing that I never stop myself to say something about it. You’re doing a great job Man, Keep it up.
This reminds me of the counsel given to Holden Caulfield by his teacher: It’s better to live humbly for small causes than die nobly for a large one.