Oceans cover about 70% of the earth’s surface and carry a compound that was once used as currency, adds flavor, preserves food and helps maintain balance in the body. It’s called salt and this is the short list of its uses. I’m not the only one who’s used salt to make a point about what brings meaning to our travel on this planet. Jonathon had been telling me week after week how he felt like a tiny speck floating in a sea of chaos and discord, unable to change the tide in his life or make a difference in the lives of others. He explained how he couldn’t stop himself from readily absorbing all the pain in this world and how he felt hopeless about so much of what he was seeing and his ability to create a positive change. As we dug a little deeper, I learned that as a kid, Jonathon grew up in a house filled with chaos and recalls trying in a kid-like-way to change things but, nothing he tried to do made things anything any better. So, he made himself smaller. He learned that in smallness, he felt safer. But as he shrank into a tiny speck, his belief in his effectiveness as a single human making his way in this world shrank too. We started by recognizing it’s never a child’s job to make things right in the lives of the adults around them nor would a child ever be able to do so. I understood why he stayed tiny and under the radar. However, another way of thinking about the true effectiveness of a single speck needed to be added to Jonathon’s repertoire of beliefs. And unearthing the deep-rooted belief that a single speck lacks agency and value needed to be called out on its shit. That’s how we got talking about salt.

A speck of anything, a single movement in thought, behavior or in the atmosphere can change everything. Jonathon worked hard to start taking notice of this. We recalled together how a meal without enough salt lacks flavor and doesn’t bring a whole lot of excitement to your taste buds. Add just add a pinch of specks called salt and everything changes in that simple meal. I don’t know exactly how or why it changes, I just know it does. I know it gives savory more depth and a few specks can make sweet a touch sweeter. Because of salt, it’s a lot more fun to eat. A tiny pinch of salt has significance because of the huge impact it may have on the overall creation of a delicious meal from start to finish. To be one person in a movement for positive change is how we start to shift the tide and get us all to a better place – whether it be an individual thought, a couple, a family, a neighborhood or a community. To be one speck in a pinch of a few, changes bland to tasty and to be one speck in a group of a few can move us from to despair to hopefulness. Noticing just one spectacular sunrise after a spell of darkness transports us to where hope hangs out with wonder. And being present in that tiny, singular miracle adds just enough to lift to lead us to a better place.

It took some time for Jonathon to see the power found in a speck of something. And that made sense considering what he carried and the harm imposed on him as a child. He was finding success in making small, singular changes in his thinking, responses and behaviors and that was making a difference in his overall belief in all he can do in this world. There’s a lot to learn from the power of trashing a speck of something and adding a speck of something else to bring about healthy life changes. Stopping to dig that one small pebble out of my sneaker and tossing it makes my morning walk a lot better. Adding the intention of being present with what’s right now and what I’m able to do with what’s right before me, can also make my walk a lot better too. While the weight of the world gets heavy sometimes, I rarely find agreement in the sentiment that a single movement in my thoughts or actions can’t make a difference because, I’ve lived long enough to know it does. Our effectiveness and value isn’t always measured in the big changes we bring about, but the collection of individual ways we make a difference every day in our own lives and the lives of others. The times we show up, the hard things we do, the beautiful thing we witness, the pain we overcome and the moment of compassion we extend to another add meaning to our lives and the lives of others. The simple act of adding salt to something has the power to preserve, heal, keep things afloat, help draw out impurities and make it all taste so much better. You are that much needed salt that can change things for the better if you choose to do so.

Maybe you need to find respite from this world sometimes by taking a break and staying small. That’s okay. Just don’t stay small for too long or it may become hard to find your saltiness again. When you emerge, take it one step at time, one page at a time and one grain at a time creating a collection of moments that have the power to change everything starting with the single speck of you. The real, messy and beautiful speck of you is just the salt we all need.

Questions/activities to ponder or good journal prompts!

1. When have you felt like “a speck floating in a sea of chaos”? What was going on in that moment? What may have led you to believe that you have little value and no chance of bringing about change?
2. When have you felt like an important, valuable, single grain in a group of other grains? What was going on in that moment? How did your thinking and experience reinforce the belief that you have value and agency?
3. Recall an experience where one, small thing made a difference to you or those around you. Was it a shift in your perspective, something you noticed or something you did? What happened?
4. What is the pebble in your shoe that you need to remove right now to make your walk a little better?
5. What is one small shift in your thinking that could make a difference in how you view yourself and all you are capable of doing?