What I know today, subject to change tomorrow, is that if I do ONE thing that is a step, a single step, toward order, a continuation or supplementary act added to what I did yesterday, I am making progress. One thing. Or one thing in each of several categories. But just the one thing is enough. I think this is true.
I am not sure that Einstein ever fretted over such matters.
10 comments:
Yes, Marylinn, one thing is sometimes all I can do in a day, though there are thousands of things that need doing. But it's how everything eventually gets tackled--one step, one drawing, one box cut up and taped, one chair with clothes piled up put away. One thing. Yes, I know that dithering.
Joseph Brodsky's poem, Letters from the Ming Dynasty, has a line in it which is applicable,
'A thousand li-long road begins with the first step.'
And so it goes for all of us. xo
Invoking Einstein as a meme to represent the zenith of intelligence I think is as wrong as invoking Mother Theresa as the epitome of compassion. Neither are actually true.
Einstein's famous equation was accomplished when he was a young man. In his later years he held tenaciously onto theories that would later be refuted. He doggedly pursued the Unified Field Theory and made basic assumptions incorrectly regarding interpretations of quantum mechanics.
In his personal life he fathered an illegitimate child, became estranged from his oldest son based on the divorce from his first wife (based on infidelity), married his cousin then promptly cheated on her, becoming know as a womanizer and he often forgot the birthdays of his wife and children.
Though the man had feet of clay, he provided the shoulders on which others stood to further the knowledge of the universe. And for that we deservedly cut him a great deal of slack.
if you think about it, putting one pebble in a pile once a day will eventually make a hill of them! Yes, one thing at a time..
Melissa - Yes, the first step and the wisdom to realize, in each moment, that one thing, one step is enough. We dwell amid so much that is, in my opinion, large and exaggerated, I believe we lose a sense of proportion. We forget the value of what is simple and single. We forget the way a journey begins. xo
Robert - What we view as icons sometimes become so simply because they are the most widely known. I remember advertising phrases from earlier times when, say, a product was referred to as "the Cadillac of ice creams." I don't believe that such a being exists, "smartest" anything in the world, for there are so many forms of intelligence. That Einstein was demonstrably human takes nothing away from his being perceived as "smart," it just makes him a bit more like the rest of us.
Kerry - How do we lose track of the basics? Can we blame it on overload? When one thing at a time is what we can manage, it has to be enough. xo
The last couple of days, I've done well to do half a thing. So, I hear you. Oh, nowadays they say, I "feel" you don't they?
I feel you Marylinn!
Rubye - My clever plan hasn't even produced a half-thing in the last few days. Perhaps today will be different. There are forces beyond our own wills at work. xo
Thank you for this. It is what I needed today.
Angella - You're welcome. I need - and often forget - it every day. xo
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