Small Tweaks

In recent times, I have been thinking about this a lot: How, in many instances, a small tweak could be more than sufficient in bringing about massive changes. Agreed – there are situations where massive effort is indeed required to bring about massive changes. More often than not, there are several small tweaks that are possible to effect. And given that the tweak is small, this might not be all that difficult to do.

One example that immediately came to mind is from Swamiji’s discourse on posture. Swamiji mentioned how a simple tweak in the head position, from slightly bent to straight, made a massive difference in the result of the Sadhana in question. For a novice meditator, the path to success is massive efforts over long periods of time. But in the scenario Swamiji described, a small tweak is all that was required.

Here is another example scenario. Whenever I happened to speak about the need to practice virtues or the need to do the right thing with friends and acquaintances, here are some of the answers I have received more than once.

• Practicing forgiveness sounds good. But I cannot do it.
• This is Kali Yuga. It is not possible to be truthful and still make money.
• Spirituality is not for me.

The problem with the above statements, as I see it, is that they all close doors. And the subconscious mind takes these statements and makes them into self-fulfilling prophecies. Here is how I would make small tweaks to the above statements.

• Practicing forgiveness sounds good. I cannot do it yet.
• This is Kali Yuga. It is difficult to be truthful and still make money.
• I appear to be not so interested in spirituality at this point in time.

The small tweaks here keep the doors of possibility open.

I am sure there are several areas where small tweaks can bring about major changes. It takes awareness to keep looking out for such possibilities. Or, if we encourage feedback from others, they might be able to point out small tweaks that we are oblivious to.

I’d love to hear small tweaks that you believe will result in major changes in the comments section!

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