A Small Shift

This weekend I was able to operate the skid steer.

 Thanks to my husband, I am exposed to heavy equipment a lot. My husband picked me up for our first date in his shiny white dump truck.  Many of our special moments together in our dating life revolved around him showing me proudly the jobs that he was working on and all the heavy equipment required.

 His “toy store” of choice is always the CAT store or the VOLVO dealership and especially the AUCTION HOUSE.

 Having Mike in my life, I have received an education in Heavy Equipment.   Early in our dating life he would quiz me on the correct names and terminology.

 I will never forget the time he bought a brand-new skid steer and let ME drive it onto the trailer to take it home.  If that isn’t love…?   We jokingly call that one “Lori’s Skid steer”.

 I have personally had the opportunity to drive off road trucks, operate (although poorly) skid steers, I have sat inside excavators and emptied buckets.  I am the first to admit, I am NOT an operator. The one thing I have learned and continue to learn is that it takes a gentle hand to make the equipment do what you want it to do.  

 A small shift.

 Often, when I watch my husband operate a heavy piece of equipment I am fixated on his hands. He does not push and pull the stick so much as he caresses it. It is an effort of a few fingers as opposed to the whole hand. I am fascinated by how a tiny motion creates such power.

 Laozi says in chapter 64 of the Dao De Jing, “A journey of a thousand Chinese miles (li) starts beneath one's feet”.  You may be more familiar with an old proverb that says  “the journey of a million miles starts with the first step”.

 Most of us want to improve ourselves, to become better.  We aspire for the end game, the finished product. What we will be when we grow up.

 What is required is a small step, a shift.  A shift in thoughts, a shift in feelings, a shift in perspective, a shift in direction.  A gentle stroking of the control stick to turn slightly in another way.  The power and momentum that follows may surprise you.

I want to toast the journey of a thousand Chinese miles that starts with a single shift beneath our feet!