There is no doubt that Stephen King has a way with words. Albeit, scary words. But, he is one of the best-selling authors of all time. A lot of people read what he has to say.
But he is much more than a master of the frightening.
He said this:
“You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.”
There is a lot to be said for this notion. Everything we do, big or small, has a beginning. We have to start somewhere, and it always does.
As Albert Einstein said:
“Nothing happens until something moves.”
Perhaps the analogy of the car would be good here. When automobiles first came on the scene, they were incredibly hard to start. There was an entire scheme of things that had to happen, including cranking the front shaft. Frequently, people were seriously injured in this process. But. Over time, the workings of cars evolved. Eventually, Charles F. Kettering invented the electric ignition and self-starter for the automobile. These days, we can start our vehicles without even being in them.
Maybe this is us. With starting. At first, it seems very difficult. Even insurmountable. But over time, as we develop these skills, starting may become easier. Automatic.
However, there are always those frigid cold mornings when the engine won’t turn over. Or perhaps, the battery is completely dead.
This might be us too.
We all have heard, time and again, the words of Lao Tzu:
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
I can’t imagine walking a thousand miles. But the truth of the matter is, I have. Many times over. You see, if we are average adults, we will walk almost 75,000 miles in our lifetimes. This is the equivalent of traveling around the world three times. A study of 2,000 adults found they each typically stroll 6,839 steps a day – amounting to 2,496,235 a year. And that adds up over the years.
So. We take one step at a time.
As we see in nature, the mighty oak tree starts from the acorn. And diamonds are formed under intense pressure, with the humble beginnings of carbon.
And this could be us as well.
We all started somewhere. It is something we all have in common. But, how we continue is up to us, and everyone takes a much different path in everything.
In all of this, we mostly know what we should do. But more than anything, we have to put every facet of our lives in motion.
As Meister Eckhart so wisely said:
“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.”
And so it begins. When we do.
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“The beginning is always today.”
― Mary Shelley
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“Truth is not something outside to be discovered, it is something inside to be realized.”
― Osho
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“I am larger, better than I thought; I did not know I held so much goodness.”
— Walt Whitman
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Begin again, begin again. We do.
