Practicum 3: The Little Things

For my third practicum I chose to do something similar to Josie's first one, paying special attention to the little things in my life. I've been noticing these little details more and more as the year's gone on, which was a really eye-opening experience for me when I noticed the level of awareness I had attained. While the actual week that I set aside for this practicum wasn't as strong as it could've been, I've had this heightened awareness for long enough to get the insight of a practicum.

I first started noticing this around when I started working on the play this year. There was a great “Aha!” moment when I was watching Murren do a scene and noticing how alive his character was; I looked for what he was doing to be so convincing, and it came down to details: micro-expressions, inflection, etc., the details were what made his character so convincing. Though I can't speak very well to acting, this seems to be the same as life in general: the details make the experience worthwhile. I do believe that grand things are also important and cool, but I appreciate the littler things more. This isn't only limited to people though, it includes things as seemingly mundane as the smell of rain, feeling a concrete wall with my hand, tasting plain bread, hearing my own footsteps, seeing a street lamp go out. I believe that these are what life is all about, the richness and detail that abounds in the world that are always at our fingertips.

In addition to this, which by itself is profound, I believe that the smallest of details are what change the world. The saying of with the butterfly flapping it's wings in China and eventually leading to a tornado in Kansas holds a lot of meaning to me. The smallest of actions can have huge effects far down the chain of events, and since there are so many things that could've affected something, there's often a hidden explanation to everything, even if we can't know it. I believe this connection is the same one talked of in the Tao Te Ching, everything influences everything else. Knowing this is a component of wisdom: to recognize that my own actions are both depend on and affect other people.

Noticing and placing importance on the little things is my internal way of balancing-out the world. As many of you know, I am easily amused by things, and am often not terribly bothered by major stuff, which is an invaluable quality for me. No matter what my situation, I place a similar importance on that. This does have it's limits, though, and I tend to be overwhelmed by highly-detailed projects. I value this as well, my ability to extract fine details about how my mind processes thought. While this isn't really a core value per se, I place tremendous value in gaining this knowledge about myself.