On Thinking Small & Finding Reverence.
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What is reverence? It’s a deep respect that helps us speak from our hearts, feel into others’ experiences, and move through our days with gratitude.
We often see ourselves as smaller — less worthy — than we actually are. We forget to practice reverence. We think small and act small, and each of us has small versions of ourselves to which we’ve been paying attention for a long time. Versions that are less than divine.
This small thinking infects how we see everything, and it’s time we initiate, practice and cultivate a shift towards reverence.
If we act small when it comes to our work, our love, or our family, everyone suffers. That’s where our practices come in. Even just one moment of my small thinking affects my everything — from how I love, to how I parent — and there are specific, ancient practices for how to shift that in the moment.
When I find myself in doubt, my meditation practice dissolves that doubt and lets me see deeply into the source of who I am. Just 20 minutes and a host of accumulated stress reactions get released, and I’m closer to my heart, closer to reverence.
In case this is relevant, sometimes I love running or hiking to get me back to that reverence — even on a treadmill where I can vary the incline and speed. As the endorphins kick in, my perspective elevates. I gain distance. I become more creative, responsive and present.
For some, it’s mudra, mantra, ritual. Ask your teachers. Do some research. Learn what dissolves or transforms your doubt, and keep that practice close.
There are contexts where thinking small is acceptable, but only in the following three instances.
Forgiveness. Prayer. Worship.
In those three instances, according to my teacher Rod Stryker, we are in service to our highest self, where inspiration is a command — and we can intuitively tap into the collective creativity. That’s when thinking small is actually in service of a much greater whole.
Which reminds me of an interview in Whitewall magazine with Paulette Cole, owner of ABC Carpet & Home and an inspiration of mine.
She posits that once we’ve accessed that collective, creative energy, “being a vessel through which that energy flows — personalizing, internalizing, interpreting and translating individual vision into perspective” — that’s when we can express ourselves most fully. That’s when we can experience reverence.
Whether it’s “design, synchronicity, art, connection, vision,” we need to have practices that help us feel respect enough to see the much bigger picture.
Reverence is a virtue, and a practice. Art is symptom of reverence.
Think small to respect the Source of it all, so you can think big and remember the magic that you are.
*****
Teaching Yoga and meditation since 1999, Elena Brower is known and beloved internationally for her resonant, relevant voice. She’s co-created Art of Attention, a beloved Yoga workbook, now translated into five languages, along with a deck of visually profound healing cards to inspire daily practice. Devoted to meditation as our most healing habit, she’s created potent online coursework, available on her site, and has produced a film, On Meditation, sharing intimate portraits of meditation from the vantage point of both teachers and practitioners. You can practice with Elena on Yogaglo.com.
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