Any small acts of love counts

At the end of a short hike in the forest around where I live, I had an inspirational idea. I thought I’d challenge my family to photograph something of beauty. The vagueness was intentional. No words attached, just a picture. The idea came after observing a variety of moss, lichen and mushrooms forming at the roots of an uprooted tree.


moss


They all took up to the challenge and the results were quite impressive. What I got was a sunset, a rabbit and the horizon from a mountaintop.

My point was not merely to receive beautiful pictures, although that’s a fantastic byproduct. It was rather to bring family members to a still and a state of observation. So few are the moments we allocate to this state of being, albeit it being our natural state. Our minds, the individual minds of our human world, are in dire need of quietness, because quietness is the necessary precursor to this state of observation.


"We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity; more than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost."

Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator


There are too many thoughts and too little feelings. Much of the matters of the world, its ideas and beliefs, take form by way of the intellectual mind. We’ve somehow managed to bring the intellect above the natural state of being of man. We can spend years blaming whoever we want, but nothing comes out from pointing outside oneself. Taking responsibility by saying “Yes, the state we are in is our own making”. The only way forward is by recognizing our own fault.


"Be careful what you wish for, because you might get it"


If one recognizes the suffering of the world, it is one’s responsibility to alleviate, at least to a small degree, the pain of others. Small gestures like challenging my family to take a picture of something beautiful might seem insignificant, but it plants a seed in their mind. Anything that originates from the heart, anything that is born of love, will help. It is often the seemingly small acts of love that have the most profound impacts.

Share your love with other living beings because love is a bottomless well - You can’t run out of it.