IS SMALL THE NEW BIG?...The Wisdom Of The One Thing!
I'm so very flattered to have inspired Paula Hathaway. Rarely do I inspire . . . anyone! LOL I've been inspired by folks and I think this is the first I've actually received this compliment! THANKS PAULA!! I didn't know about Seth Godin's book "Small is the New Big" and will check that out.
Paula and I went small, and for our reasons. I'm glad she found her writing bliss, as Joseph Campbell said "Follow your bliss." I'm so glad to read her post to know she understands what I was talking about. I kept thinking today about the one adage from childhood: Slow and steady wins the race. The quick, fast hare made several moves on me in the past five years . . . I just keep plugging along. I retreat into my shell from time-to-time, but my Mother used to say that Turtles don't get very far unless they stick their necks out! It can be difficult for many to keep going sometimes.
This is beautifully written:
"The laws of physics make it clear that our existence is made up of expansion and contraction. Like the living, breathing "thing" that it is, life unfolds with both the in and the out, the up and the down and that motion gives it longevity. Once that motion stops, so does life itself.
When we are going through an expansion, everything lines up for that motion or wave of growth. The universe seems to support the expansion and we find our lives full of the stuff that comes from an expanded existence.
When we start to go into a contraction, into the "small" in other words, we tend to fight it, to resist what we know is happening on a subconscious level. We start to fight it and in that fight, we lose. We lose because fighting the contraction cuts off the very motion that gives us life, the in and out, or the breathing part!...
This is the time to let go; this is when the fear sets in and we need to know that fear is a natural by product of contraction--so letting go and going with the way things are happening is the only way to win. "
IS SMALL THE NEW BIG?... The Wisdom Of The One thing!
I was so inspired by Carla Muss's featured post yesterday that I just had to blog about it!
In: The One Thing: Going Small . . . Emerging The Opposite of Small Carla gives us all an eye opening view into her tribulations and it is a wonderful thing to see the "emerging " of a new view, a new human experience with an understanding of just what is going on--and her discovery of "The One Thing" by Gary Keller that has given her the courage to go forward! Her focus and her singular determination is refreshing and inspiring to me because of something I discovered a while ago.
"SMALL IS THE NEW BIG" is the title of a book written in 2006 by one of my favorite authors, Seth Godin.
When I read that book, I had a feeling that Seth wanted to get a point across that in it's own way is a precursor to what Carla has discovered. I loved the book because it inspired me to go on with my life in spite of the fact that it appeared to be slowing down and having less of an impact on those around me.
I had knee surgery as Carla did and though it was relatively minor surgery and my results were not as devastating as hers, I still have a hard time walking to this day. I can not show
certain houses that are several levels because the pain is excruciating when I try to walk up or down stairs. I have found certain supplements that help me out now so after 4 years of this struggle I seem to be coming out of it...and I have become more focused as a result of the experience.
I now focus on my writing and on my one client who is a developer. This developer has done 3 projects with me as his agent and these 3 projects have turned into more sales and more listings for me--until I focused as I am now doing, I was all over the place and getting nothing to generate the business that I needed to make a decent, more predictable income....I was struggling!
But in that struggle I found a new freedom: Writing!
Seth's writings got me to begin to blog---Blogging has given me a new view of life too. Writing for me is one thing that I can do no matter how big or small I feel! In fact, as my life contracts and I become less involved in the more mundane activities of life, I find myself becoming more "me" than ever before, because of my writing!
Seth states: "The book is a collection of more than 180 riffs that have appeared in Fast Company or on my blog over the last six or seven years. It's designed to spark you and your colleagues into doing what you already knew how to do in the first place."
So, when I saw Carla's Post I thought it would be another "rant" or 'riff" on the things we do in life---I guess maybe it is that, in her way. But Carla went much deeper than that and came up with one of the most inspiring writings I have seen yet on the matter of "when things go wrong" in your life.
I can totally relate to what she wrote and it helped to re-open the door to a concept of which I already have a full understanding:
IT'S THE LAW OF PHYSICS....EXPANSION AND CONTRACTION:
The laws of physics make it clear that our existence is made up of expansion and contraction. Like the living, breathing "thing" that it is, life unfolds with both the in and the out, the up and the down and that motion gives it longevity. Once that motion stops, so does life itself.
When we are going through an expansion, everything lines up for that motion or wave of growth. The universe seems to support the expansion and we find our lives full of the stuff that comes from an expanded existence.
When we start to go into a contraction, into the "small" in other words, we tend to fight it, to resist what we know is happening on a subconscious level. We start to fight it and in that fight, we lose. We lose because fighting the contraction cuts off the very motion that gives us life, the in and out, or the breathing part!...
This is the time to let go; this is when the fear sets in and we need to know that fear is a natural by product of contraction--so letting go and going with the way things are happening is the only way to win.
The very idea that we are going into a contraction can make us frightened, indeed! No one wants to think that the life that they have been living in this expansive way can suddenly reverse itself--and yet it does... Life does throw us into reverse and it is how we pull through that reversal or contraction that is what makes us who we are!
So, I want to thank Carla and tell her that I appreciate the deeper understanding that she seems to have about life now; I am hoping it will rub off on me too so that I can have the sense of "self" that she has discovered....
Maybe I already do have that sense of "self" and maybe her post was just a reminder that "Small IS The New Big" after all!
I AM OPEN TO ALL OPTIONS!!!
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT THE WAY LIFE TREATS YOU???
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**ALL INFORMATION AND CONTENT IN THIS BLOG IS ORIGINAL TO PAULA I. HATHAWAY
Paula I. Hathaway, Senior Vice President, Douglas Elliman Real Estate
Southamtpon Village Real Estate Specialist since 1995; Also Specializes in North Sea, Noyac, Water Mill and Bridgehampton, New York
Diamond , Gold and Chairman's Circle Awards; Top Producer since 2005
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