Small, Service, and Surrender

"Service doesn't start when you have something to give;

it blossoms naturally when you have nothing left to take."

-Nipun Mehta

I read a speech which was recently given to college graduates which spoke to me personally. In the age of selfies and self-promotion, we all seem to want to be big and to be seen by masses and to be the best in our fields about ending the pain, proclaiming the answers to finding  the answer to everything. This, in essence, was what the speech was about. We seem to have lost the belief that being small, doing service, and surrendering to what is best for all, and what many people say is surrendering to the highest good is good enough and even a good and beneficial belief.

Being small does not mean demeaning ourselves, or making us less than what and who we are. Being small refers to being who we are, and we are all, each of us, a little piece of the big whole. Any one of us does not have all the answers or the way…..we all have some little, but important, piece that adds to our whole or oneness, or interconnectedness. We all have important insights and abilities. I am grateful for the builders and for the trash collectors and for the writers and architects and marketers and healers and artists and seekers, and so on. We are all important, and we are all small in and of ourselves.

We also become so involved in us and our issues and our problems and our individual worlds that we forget that so much of our happiness and ability to communicate and to connect is through service of some kind. Remember that last time you were consumed with how you would buy your new house, or how you would handle your child, or how you would find the resources to pay for your heat or electric, or how you would deal with a divorce, etc.? In those moments things in the world become all about us. Yet, when we take a time out and a deep breath and open our horizons to helping another, to offering a helping hand, to saving a turtle, to saving someone's life, to teaching or being available, to helping at a soup kitchen, to opening a non-profit, we begin to feel so much better. Opening up to even the idea of service, and how we can help and be of help to others and communities takes us out of our usual stories and gives us a sense of purpose. A sense of purpose is so very important to us. I think of so many people who have retired or who have become so very depressed that they lose their sense of purpose. In those times we as humans as a collective, begin to feel aches and pains, get ill, get lost in television, gain weight, and stop growing. We need to feel that we make a little difference in this world just by being who we are. We need a sense of purpose, even if it is to help others manage their lives through organizing their closets, or cleaning their houses, or being a mentor…this is too numerous to list. 

Surrendering to the greater will; stepping aside from our big egos and our need to know and to control, to letting go and letting things happen that we don`t really have control of. So much of life just happens as we are busy trying to control things. It is great to have dreams and goals. It is another matter to keep trying to make things work when it becomes clear that what we are doing isn't working. 

Small, service and surrender are too important to get lost and forgotten. As we embrace who we are, allow us to see beyond our little selves to see us in connection to others and what is needed by others and let go of the outcome, life not only becomes easier, it also allows us to feel more joy, peace and more whole and a vital part of community.

Change Your Story/Change Your Life

Check out this beautiful speech and if you are so moved, let me know how it touches you.