BIG Ideas • small words

‘Good things come in small packages’ was my go-to retort when I was a young girl. During school concerts, I found myself in the front row with my shortest class mates beside me. Our P.E. teachers would gather us up by height for ropes course and activities, where I was usually bringing up the end of the line. When walking with friends, I learned to move twice as fast since my legs were shorter than most of my peers. That’s probably why the friends I exercise with even today, consider me a ‘fast walker’ when really I am just used to keeping up with my long-legged crew.

Although I have always been short for my age, it never bothered me, as I saw it as a badge of pride that I carried joyfully. So it makes sense that I have been reflecting on this motto from my childhood that has shaped how I live, love, parent and partner today.

Small is a mindset and not a definition. The greatest gifts can be found in the smallest of places. Treasures come in tiny corners. Remember the Gold Rush? Living in California, and raising our children here, we are constantly reminded of the Gold Rush that helped put California on the map. Gold flakes were discovered in 1848, which led to CA becoming a state in 1850. These ‘flakes’ soon led others to find ‘nuggets’ and the rest…as they say, is History! California’s Gold Nuggets were the tiny bits that came from excavation. Today I use the message of ‘Golden Nuggets’ to uncover meaning and messages from every crevice of my life as well as with my groups and clients.

In every Chapter of our lives, Golden Nuggets are presented in a variety of packages. These Golden Nuggets are the most important learnings and lessons that I take away from each experience and interaction. Each one of us has their own definition of what is Golden. I have heard it referred to as key takeaway, lesson learned, words of wisdom, food for thought, something to chew on, caution light, piece of advice, word to the wise, and more… But whatever you choose to call it, I believe there are infinite gifts in asking “What’s the Golden Nugget for Me?” A Gold Nugget is the piece of Gold produced through mining and extraction. So it makes sense that asking this question to ourselves frequently and courageously is a way of discovering and extracting a key element that we can build on.

Life’s Golden Nuggets are the money in the bank when you build up your reserve of lessons learned. Because experience isn’t just what happens to us; it’s the meaning we extract, the lessons we learn, and the insight we gain from what happens to us.

Although the Gold Rush began 177 years ago, I believe we all continue to be gold miners in our our own ways. Just as people who lived during this time period found Promise and Possibilities in their new found discoveries, so too can we look at life’s little ‘nuggets’ as a Path to renewed Perspectives; signaling true treasures of Resilience, Growth and Wisdom. 

With this theme in mind, and sticking to my personal belief that the Small findings hold the Biggest fortunes, I am sharing my BIG Ideas • small words. (vol. 1) to serve as instant inspiration & a constant reminder that we all have opportunities to find Gold if we start digging deeper and discover the gems in our own lives.

Life shows us again and again that ….

Today is another opportunity to discover the BIG Ideas inside us all.

The BIGGEST Ideas come in the smallest of sizes.

Remember the LITTLE Things ARE the BIG Things!