Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Getting started, the hardest thing to do?

Thanks you to Greg of TODO Institute for sharing this.

Sometimes the greatest challenge is to actually begin: there is something deep in us that conspires with what wants to remain within safe boundaries and stay the same. Years ago my neighbor here set out to build his new home. He had just stripped the sod off the field to begin digging out the foundation when an old man from the village happened to come by. He blessed the work and said, "You have the worst of it behind you now." My neighbor laughed and said, "But I have only just begun." The old man said, "That's what I mean. You have begun; and to make a real beginning is the most difficult act."

There is an old Irish proberb that says, "Tus maith leath na hoibre -- a good beginning is half the work." There seems to be wisdom here, when one considers all the considerations, hesitation, and uncertainty that can claim our hearts for such a long time before the actual act of beginning happens.


from To Bless the Space Between Us by John O'Donohue