Reflections on Beginnings - Part 1
Every new beginning is just a first step away. Do you have hopes, dreams and wishes for the future? Or even just something you have been meaning to do, or longing to achieve? Why not make a start today towards making it happen? Nothing grand, nothing onerous, just take one small action to set you on your way.
Cathedrals are built one stone at a time, and although they may take generations to complete, they would not exist at all if someone hadn’t been bold enough to lay the first cornerstone.
Lao Tzu was right: the journey of a thousand miles does begin with the first step. But why is that first step often so difficult to take? Perhaps it is because we are intimidated by the size of the task before us, the length of the journey ahead? But remember the old question of how to eat an elephant. Answer: one bite at a time.
Sometimes the reason we hesitate to begin afresh is because we have tried and failed before. Cynicism is the root of all inertia. But one way to cure cynicism is to change the way we think about beginnings. Every big ending is the result of countless small beginnings. We should not expect to achieve our goals the first time we try.
Source
Extracted and adapted from Everyday Inspiration: Philosophy for Daily Living.