I’ve been meditatively studying this simple pebble. I picked it up out of the rocks on the side of my house. It’s nothing special, just an ordinary pebble. As a challenge, I grabbed it and cleaned it up a bit, put it on my desk, and deeply examined and studied it. I studied it for about a month, almost every day. I looked at it from different directions, I studied each of the indentations and imperfections in it. I thought deeply about this pebble, I photographed it, and this simple pebble taught me a few things.

Appreciation

First, I learned to appreciate this pebble in a way that I would not have otherwise. But, this is only because I paid deep attention to it. My attention on this pebble gave me an appreciation for it’s imperfections, it’s different surfaces, and its features. I found things to appreciate about it, which was not what I expected when I started this exercise.

This made me wonder, what other things in our lives would we gain a greater or deeper appreciation for, were we to choose to pay closer attention to them? How often do we take for granted, or even ignore, the things that are around us? If we were to pay deep attention to them, we would find things to appreciate about them. We collect so much information on a daily basis from so many sources – social media, YouTube, books, movies, shows, interpersonal relationships. We cast a wide net, but how often to we set out to appreciate a single thing, deeply?

Balance

I found that this pebble has many surfaces that can cause it to stay stationary. The surface that is to the table in this photo has this notch that sticks out that allows the pebble to find balance in several positions. This certainly isn’t what I would have imagined, had I just seen this pebble on the driveway, then kicked it back into the rocks.

It made me think about our own balance. How often do we assume that we can only find balance in a particular position? How often do we strive for an imagined balance, not knowing what we’re capable of? Even if balance is temporary (which all balance is), we are capable of maintaining balance given different circumstances.

Balance is maintained, it is not attained. It’s like riding a bike. We maintain balance within the given situation. Whether we ride in the rain, in the wind, in traffic, on a mountain or desert trail – we maintain balance. The positions from which we can personally maintain balance are even more varied than this pebble. If this simple pebble can maintain balance in a variety of positions, we can maintain balance in more positions than the single position that we imagine.

Imperfections

As I examined the imperfections on the pebble, I found myself wondering what had caused them. Was it contact with other rocks? Was it my foot, my tires? Was it the process of creating the rock? Was it a rake or a shovel?

I started thinking of all of my imperfections, and of the imperfections of those around us. I often wonder how somebody could love me despite my imperfections. When it comes to the imperfections of others, there are imperfections that we’re willing to accept, and some that we have trouble looking past. But when they’re viewed as features, just as they are on this pebble, they’re just traits of the person. I’m not accepting of this pebble despite it’s imperfections, or even because of them; they just are part of the pebble, and I accept the pebble as it is. Taking time to see the pebble for what it is, with imperfections and all, makes me think about accepting people the same way – not because of their traits, or even despite their traits, but just accepting the person as they are.

Awareness

My intention was not to judge this pebble, but to study it. Studying it gave me a deeper awareness of it. I wasn’t judging it based on any of it’s merits, even if I did gain an appreciation for it. Gaining an awareness for it helped me to recognize its merits.

I think it’s the same with people. As we gain an awareness for the people around us, we begin to gain an appreciation for them. As we gain an appreciation of them, we become more forgiving, empathetic, and compassionate.

Think Deeply

We cast such a wide net – we get information from so many places, all around us, all the time. It’s important to take some time to think deeply about things as well. Don’t be afraid to study deeply as well as widely. Who knows what you might learn.