The little things matter

Recently, I've been thinking about how I need to pay more attention to little things - in particular, little ways of being. Life is very busy at present and I find myself rushing from place to place and doing one "big" thing after another (lectures, music, seeing patients on the wards, existential doubt, etc.). I often feel intellectually and emotionally exhausted by these big things. For me, one of the worst things about this exhaustion is that it creates the illusion that I have no more time/energy/emotion to spend on what I (perhaps tellingly) think of as "little" things.

I realized today that I often wish I were more thoughtful where people are concerned. When I'm talking to or thinking about people, I usually try my best to empathize with them and to interact in a way that is at least mutually beneficial and pleasant. It's another thing though to think about people in my life as all very distinct, with their own things that make them tick, their own background, beliefs and ideals, and their own mental hierarchy of things in their lives that they consider important. I wish I were better at shaping my interactions with other people in ways that take into account all these things each person has for their very own, in ways that really make them feel special.

It's this individual-driven shaping of human interaction that I think of as "thoughtfulness", and it's at the forefront of a slowly growing list of little things to work on. It's not that I want these ideas right at the forefront of my mind - more the opposite, that I want them as part of the fabric from which my "big" things are made, moulding the actions and activities that occupy most of my conscious time.

The little things matter.

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