Years ago I attended a talk where the presenter spoke about taking one thing in our lives and making it consistent: a thing that we choose to do every day, and then build on this. That day I chose to start by folding my face washer and placing it either over the taps or now on a holder in our new home.
In the four years since I started this I have consistently folded my face washer every day. It is something that I have not faltered on, but in that time I have not built on other things with so much commitment… or that is what I thought.
I realised how this tiny little thing that I had chosen to do every day was actually quietly and consistently building with each choice that I made.
Once I make a choice to do something – like lovingly folding my PJ’s and putting them under my pillow each morning, or folding the dishcloth to wipe the bench – there is such a strong pull to do it every day, that if I choose to override what I feel to do, my body speaks loudly, giving me the opportunity to make a different choice.
By building this foundation of consistency it feels like I am held with such love that my body goes into slow motion until I choose to again commit to the loving choice that I had previously made.
Appreciating my Choices
I had not appreciated what a difference it was making, but this morning I felt the enormity of how it has been trickling into every facet of my life. I had been judging myself because I had not consciously picked other things to build on.
I can now see this one choice had created a chain reaction that affected every part of my life. I have been quietly building on other things without really noticing. Now my life flows, just like a thread that has been quietly stitching my life together on the inside.
All these things are a true reflection of how I have been living.
For me this is now very obvious in my home. I rarely have these moments where I am super-organised and then it drops. I may still have moments where things can slip, but they are pulled up pretty quickly. Every little thing I do is building on my foundation.
When I appreciate all that I am now choosing in my life – all the loving ways that make my day and the quality I am living in – I see things differently. By appreciating this consistency I have been building, I get to feel and appreciate me. The quality that I live in and the way I live, not just seeing the end results on the outside, I get to feel more of me on the inside.
I had been telling myself for a long time that appreciation is the key, but I was not really appreciating me, it was just words. Now when I feel appreciation it feels like my body is expanding with a smile on the inside. And it radiates all around me.
I now know in my body, what it feels like to build consistency. Slowly building an appreciation for all that I do, even folding my face washer. By appreciating all the little things that have changed in my life, I get to see the bigger picture of life more clearly.
When Simone Benhayon suggested to choose one thing to do and choose it consistently, I had no idea that it would have such an impact on my whole life.
Really, it was one little thing! This one little thing has shown me so much. It has reflected my level of commitment and consistency in all parts of my life, including my relationship with others.
By Denise Cavanough, Living Expression, Brisbane
Further Reading:
Sunrise and Sunset – The Dawning of Consistency
Organising my home – Choosing Order Over Complexity
Harmony
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
I liked reading the simplicity of this blog. This “one little thing” is actually bigger than we think as it has a rippling effect in every part of our lives. It’s not just about our lives, but about everybody else’s that it impacts in many ways than just the one positive way. To me, it shows the responsibility we have in the way we live is for the ALL.
Once we build a consistency in this “one little thing’, then another, “one little thing”, is added and so it builds so much that it is our daily ritual that one day feels awful if we ever break it.
There is more to life then the small things in our lives…
“Really, it was one little thing!” The magic of that one small step that offers us the way to appreciate all there is to appreciate.
I need these reminders of appreciation. Because in these appreciations we are reminded of the magnificence of where we once came from.
Appreciation comes after we are living in the Joy of our divine essences or being Soul-full as these are one in the same it is up to us all to align to our Souls and the blessing of wisdom it shares with us all equally.
Denise, I love how you have talked about appreciation being key in so many areas especially stopping to appreciate ourselves and each step we have laid down as a platform for true growth.
Holding a certain rhythm that comes from a gentleness in the way we are with what we do can indeed build a foundation that we can then stand upon and grow further.
Denise, this is very powerful indeed: “I can now see this one choice had created a chain reaction that affected every part of my life.” – one choice can impact us in such a supportive way hence we cannot underestimate the smallest of things that have the power to shift thing in a big way,
Appreciation holds many keys to life, like also letting people in.
I too have experienced over the years the changes that have occurred simply by being consistent with one thing. It spreads to all other areas of life in the same quality.
Love this – such a valuable observation of the way that life is not about big complicated ideas and plans, but its about simple things done consistently, that trickle down into everything that we do.
We begin with approaching one thing in life in the most loving way we cab and we bring that to ourselves everyday, it can’t but have a ripple effect on the way we approach the remainder of our life.
Consistency of loving choices will support building that love in our bodies, ‘ building this foundation of consistency it feels like I am held with such love ‘.
I agree Elizabeth, the consistency built with one simple choice has a powerful flow-on effect throughout all areas of our lives.
I love this blog, I am inspired to commit to this each day and build greater consistency each day and to feel the difference this brings.
When we only focus on what we haven’t yet mastered, we totally deny ourselves the joy and beauty of everything that we already are, and all that is to be enjoyed and appreciated
Appreciation holds so many keys to our evolution.
Appreciation in our lives is key, ‘When I appreciate all that I am now choosing in my life – all the loving ways that make my day and the quality I am living in – I see things differently.’
‘By appreciating all the little things that have changed in my life, I get to see the bigger picture of life more clearly.’ And it asks us to live from moment to moment and accept the quality we can live in each of these moments by being aware of these simple choices we make that make up the whole.
Appreciating on a regular basis is such an important component of our lives.
What if the lesson of consistency begins with one small thing? As an incredibly inconsistent person you’ve definitely got me interested here and inspired to choose one thing and stick with it and see what happens from there.
This also shows the importance of simplicity because if we notice our lives are not quite right we definitely will get lost when trying to change everything at once.
Great point Lieke, little steps of change support us in a simple and focused way and are less likely to lead to overwhelm, and thus there is more of a solid approach. A bit like the story of the hare and the tortoise racing each other – slow and steady is very powerful.
The saying ‘from small acorns big oak trees grow’ comes to mind, when we consistently do one thing that supports us we start to appreciate it and then without thinking we become more consistent in other things and our consistency builds up and gives us a great foundation.
“I can now see this one choice had created a chain reaction that affected every part of my life” A realisation that every choice we make affects the next … and the next.
I have this consistency with writing bigger or smaller post like these comments on truth. Without having done that my day does not feel complete, having started the days with them feels like a foundation.
Gorgeous to read Denise, it is in doing the small things in life with consistency that a solid foundation can be built little by little, just choosing one thing to be consistent with leads to more consistency in other things that we may not be aware that we are doing.
Being consistent in appreciating ourselves is a wise choice, ‘By appreciating this consistency I have been building, I get to feel and appreciate me.’
Consistency without control, consistency without imposition, indeed consistency with love is so profoundly different.
The beauty I feel in this is how the body has taken autonomy over mind, and movement was taking place without the mind’s dictate, and what was left for the mind to do was to clock, appreciate and confirm.
I love what you share here as I can feel the appreciation in your words through the process of looking back of what has become an absolute normal for you.
Appreciation brings such a lovely feeling, ‘when I feel appreciation it feels like my body is expanding with a smile on the inside. And it radiates all around me.’
It is a great reminder how just having one thing that we consistently do with love supports us and slowly it expands into other areas the more consistent we are. I also find it helps keep me on track and focussed when I have more of a structure to life.
Choosing one thing and consistently tending to it leads to bigger and more things, to one’s whole life and the universe eventually.
Building consistency changes the way to build quality in us and helps us to change the quality of our movements.
Lots of new activities and ways of being I no longer do and I have been judging myself as having very little consistency but today I began to count the things I have changed and been doing for several years and surprisingly there are quite a few. So I would like to appreciate you and your writing of this blog for I am now appreciating myself more too! I would like to add that I am aware how much some of these changes have positively impacted on other people and I am sure the ripples keep going out far and wide all the time.
These tiny things are one of the most effective ways to grow quickly. Doing just one specific thing, however small, with awareness and love every day creates a marker that we can draw on at any time we choose to.
I agree Christoph, it gives us a foundation to then go forward with rather than always feeling we need to start again. And then more we do it the stronger it becomes. Just like say with weights at the gym, the more you consistently you do them the more strength you build and so it is only when you stop for a bit that it feels like you are starting again. Otherwise each day you are building on the previous day.
“By appreciating all the little things that have changed in my life, I get to see the bigger picture of life more clearly.” – I used to always look for the bigger things that I had done to appreciate in myself, but recently it has been an eye-opener to notice that there are so many qualities that I possess that are really naturally amazing and so beneficial for myself and others I am in relationships with, and that there is actually no ‘doing’ in any of these things. Also, it is so true that all the ‘little things’ actually build upon each other when we start with a simple thing (like doing my connective tissue exercises) and soon we have built a ‘new norm’ of self-loving acts throughout the day without even really trying.
Gorgeous, there you go, we can see how truly implementing one true aspect in life can shed light on the rest and be considered to change too! How profound this teaching is.
Spot on Danna – it is like a ripple effect, no matter how small the first choice was or is.
We underestimate how powerful consistency is, the more we commit to being consistent even the smallest of ways there is a beautiful flow on effect that can be felt far and wide.
I love what you are presenting here. We all have a consistency in life with things we do, how we live, but it comes back to are the things we do supporting us in our health and vitality and wellbeing or are they smashing us? And what you show is that we can start with little steps to introduce loving and supportive actions to our daily rhythm that have an enormous effect in all areas of our life.
We think change has to be some big fanfare don’t we, but change comes from doing one thing consistently and letting that impulse and that footprint build in other areas of our lives. It doesn’t have to be big at all but it has to come from a willingness to lay a foundation of truth.
“It doesn’t have to be big at all but it has to come from a willingness to lay a foundation of truth.” I love these simple truths.
I love what you have shared Denise, I started too with the making of my bed each day and taking the time to smooth out the wrinkles, and when I do it feels so beautiful in my body, “Now when I feel appreciation it feels like my body is expanding with a smile on the inside. And it radiates all around me. “
It’s so easy to miss the fact of those little things we commit to and their ripple effects in our lives and how even if we slip we quickly feel the outcome and have a base to come back to … a great way to care for and parent ourselves.
Thank you for sharing Denise and for me one of the things I am consistent with is sharing an appreciation text with a friend every day and that has been so supportive of building more consistency in my life as I am offered the opportunity to reflect on how much there is to appreciate in my life and areas for expansion with no beating myself up when I slip back into old behaviours.
When we actually embody what we say and do there is a real solidness to our intention and quality of movements.
And that supports what we say and do, allowing us to embody more, saying and doing more …
There sure is so often we/people can be full of words but without action they are meaningless and actually more harming. It is far better to be honest and say you are not going to do something than pretned you will and not do it.
Yes, when we do that it is already a quantum leap towards truth as we do not hold ourselves any longer in the ideals we believe we have to fulfil but honour ourselves at where we are really at and how life really is for us.
Simply honouring ourselves and what we are feeling is such a leap as you say towards truth as so many of us are brought up thinking we need to conform and fit certain pictures so deny and override what we are feeling.
“when I feel appreciation it feels like my body is expanding with a smile on the inside.” Appreciating a consistency builds a consistency of appreciation.
A agree Mary and it is a reminder to appreciate myself and also others more! 🙂
Appreciation is simply the energetic understanding we are more than physical and thus an inner-smile from the inner-heart.
I love this blog and I agree. I do one thing each day for me that also lifts the house and that’s giving the kitchen bench a shiny clean after dinner. Just tonight I clocked how it felt when I cleaned. Have you felt something that is like rain falling from the Heavens. This is how it feels when I wipe the bench. The consistency reminds how to bring heaven to each moment.