This is the way to move mountains

Quote Art Made By Myself

One of the most powerful quotes I had to meditate on today is this one,

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”

Some attribute it to the philosopher, Confucius but the most authentic and honest attribute, even though it's a bit ambiguous, is that it's an old Chinese Proverb.

The thing is that most of us read a quote like this one a random social media post and agree with it as if we really understand it. Then, we go back to waiting for the right moment, the right resources, the perfect plan to move that mountain in our lives. The mountain represents the problem your want to tackle.

I do it too, so I'm not judging. But the quote is not about having a plan to move a mountain, it's about knowing the stones that make up the mountain which you are going to carry away.

Stones are not much of a big deal. To hold one doesn’t feel like you are moving towards anything important, no one is going to get inspired by your 47th stone moved. But I think that’s the point. The mountain does not move because of your vision or the book that you read or the inspiration that you received on a Friday morning.

A mountain can move because someone has been picking up its stones and carrying them away piece by piece till you see nothing but flat bare ground.

Sometimes, it does seem like you have wasted your time carrying ten, twenty, maybe even a hundred stones, and the mountain still looks exactly the same. Almost like chopping wood too, you hit your first 20, you say a significant chip off that big tree but the tree looks exactly the same, standing tall and strong.

That’s the part no one talks about and that’s the part where it feels hopeless or pointless and you start doubting your actions thinking maybe you're wrong. Maybe there are people so drowned in motivation that they don't feel what I'm describing but eventually motivation dies and what must kick in afterwards is discipline.

All I do know is that, the stones do not care what you think about them or how many times you complain, they simply exist and the mountain isn’t going to move either way, so it’s up to you whether you carry one or choose not to. Life is full of problems and it's never going to be any different, but you can choose to be different.