My brother Juan and I were giving out the awards to the Silva Method lecturers during the recently completed Silva International Convention and, as is usually the case, all eyes were on us and the winners who came to center-stage for their awards.
In the midst of the applause and cheers which the winners received as their names were called out, I became very reflective. “Why, I asked myself, “are these people getting an award? What made them special in this particular regard this year?”
Becoming conscious of those thoughts, I began to seek a strand that connected all the winners this year. Was there a link to their performances? Did they share something in common? We are blessed, I think, in having outstanding individuals associated with us as lecturers and graduates, and this fact is a principal reason why the Silva Method has become one of the most significant planetary forces in existence today. It is these people – all of them – that give life to the Method, and it is their zeal that has carried it to almost every corner of the world.
Yet, for this particular year, there were some who had excelled even further. Why?
As I kept thinking of this, that connecting strand eventually appeared. These graduates, it seemed, had been especially careful to notice small details. All of us focus on the bigger things – and well we should. But oftentimes, the small details do not get the attention they deserve. After all, bit things are nothing more than the accumulation of small things. It stands to reason, therefore, that small details make big things happen.
This is not as philosophical as it may sound, for the person who does small things well, regardless of their importance, is going to do big things well. Conversely, the person who does not give importance to small things is not going to make big things happen.
In the Silva Method, we have become fully aware of this, and we attempt to better ourselves through the very powerful tool of habit. Individuals are creatures of habit, and if we program ourselves to good habits, we shall, indeed, become “Better and Better.” But the opposite can also be true. Nourishing bad habits will become disastrous to the individual. Making it a habit to do small things well — day in and day out regardless of how insignificant they may seem — will eventually program us to do big things well. This programming, I felt, was what the winners had in common. The small things had given them their prize.
One of the most useful tools in the Silva Method, I think, is that it allows the individual to assume responsibility for his total self, and to allow him to analyze his total being through the different parts that make him a unique human being. Our human system is made up of many parts, each one playing a definite but distinct role. All of them are equal, and the ability to blend all of their functions harmoniously is a main task of the Silva Method. Through the Silva Method, we are provided an effective way to search for self, but once we do that we must assume total responsibility for ourselves, including each and every part of our being and each and every role that we as humans play.
Our journey on this planet is comprised of many decisions, many alternatives, many opportunities, many disillusions, many joys and many sorrows. All of these situations will shape us as human beings, and they will affect our way of life and our way of being. They are significant events in our lives, yet if we look closely we will notice that all of these situations came about because of small things.
That big opportunity arrived in my own life, but it came about because day by day I paid attention to doing my job well, learning as much as I could, possessing a cheerful personality, coping with the stresses and responsibilities of the job. Yes, we must indeed have our sights fixed on the big events in our lives; but we must never forget those small things.
It was doing small things well that earned those individuals their awards this year, and, in a bigger framework, it is doing small things well that eventually will make us better and better human beings.
Wise words of timeless perspective. Relevant and more so in these current turbulent times. Reminds me of the overnight success of many that actually take years to achieve.