The Power of a Pebble

I read about a man who had trouble with faith… not “religious” faith but faith in himself, his purpose and where he was in his life – career, finances, status etc… Each day he would worry that he would not achieve the milestone goals he perceived were valuable based on his beliefs. His beliefs about what you should achieve and what you should own at a given time in your life. His worry was constant and caused sleeplessness and even digestive issues. He also had trouble connecting with women because his expectations of what kind of woman he should have were so high… so as a result, he was alone.

One day he was walking and noticed a shiny white object on the normally clear path he walked to work in the morning. When he leaned down he realized it was a small white pebble. How out-of-place this pebble looked and how did it even get here, he thought. So he picked it up and rubbed off the dirt and thought – how fortunate to find a perfectly white pebble on a cement path in the middle of the city. For some reason this stuck with him as he decided to place the pebble in his front pocket.

As the day progressed and the man returned home, while undressing for the evening and emptying his pockets, he noticed the shiny almost round pebble that he had found earlier. He was reminded again of how he felt when he found the pebble – how he felt fortunate and grateful to find such a simple but unique treasure. He placed the pebble on his dresser with the rest of his pocket’s things and went to bed.

The next morning the man, while filling his pockets for the day, again noticed the pebble. He, again, picked up the pebble and again, remembered the feeling of gratefulness and luck he felt twice before when holding it. The man then acknowledged the feeling of gratefulness for finding the stone and expressed his gratitude in a conscious thought.

As days passed, the man carried the pebble in his front pocket and each morning and evening, while filling or emptying his pockets, would realize and then verbalize in conscious thought, not only how fortunate he was to have found the pebble but how blessed he really was with all he had in his life, right now.

Before he knew it, this twice daily ritual became a time when he stopped to think and then to give thanks for all that his life was – every day: he was thankful for his health, his job, his family and friends and began to really understand what is truly important in this life… and that’s simple gratitude for what he already had.
As a result of this ritual the man began to sleep more soundly and experienced less and less physical issues as the balance of who he was leveled. As time went on and the man no longer stressed about material success and developed a deep sense of self-love and acceptance of himself and who he was. As you might guess, this state of mind and heart that he cultivated allowed him to find love and acceptance with a woman who also understood what real prosperity was and together they lived a simple, grateful and compassionate life with all of the richness of spirit they could ever want. And it all began with a small, seemingly insignificant pebble…

Gratitude brings into our lives prosperity. Prosperity of spirit will bring you to the realizations (awareness) of what is truly valuable in our lives.

Find your own white pebble – or any object you can remember to connect with each day to remind you how truly blessed you are – right now. Share your experience with others and grow the spiritual consciousness of your community and then the world. You can do it, we all can if we are conscious enough for gratitude.