Little by little Fills the Pot

Samuel Johnson outlines how, through persistence and application and "petty operations incessantly continued", major and great accomplishments finally result. A quarry becomes a pyramid and "mountains are levelled and oceans bounded by the slender force of human beings".

On this issue of how 'small' things add up to produce the huge, two separate verses are highly illustrative - one by Julia Fletcher Carney and another from the ancient Sanskrit work, Hitopadesha. Hitopadesha in this practical message to all aspirants notes, "With the falling of just drops of water, the pot gradually gets filled up. So is the case with acquisition of all knowledge and all pursuits too". A Tamil quote runs, siru thulli, perum vellam small drops and finally a flood. Bhagavad Gita's concept of shanaihi, shanaihi 6,25 and Pavlov's advice on 'passion and gradualness' for pursuit of excellence - these too base themselves on such practical wisdom.

Verse 116. Never Hesitate To Do Good

Applied to practical living, one can take heart from the fact that even an hour withdrawn from routine and devoted regularly to a particular task, would bring about substantial rewards, especially when this pursuit is interspersed with longer periods of time, even if these be done only once in a way. Indeed, in these chunks of even minutes and 'petty operations incessantly continued', lie, often, the potential for tangible accomplishments! Read more on Samuel Johnson. My Saved Articles Sign in Sign up.

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This was where we would face a nearly nine-hour ascent that began Saturday morning at half past midnight. No guidebook or blog or dosage of Diamox could possibly prepare us for the nauseating altitude that nearly ended our trip.

Every 20 to 40 minutes, my mother and I got so irrepressibly sick that I began to look forward to it, as the purge provided me with enough adrenaline to make it another half an hour. My mother then asked us what time it was and when Elisabeth told her it was about 5 a.

Little by little, and three arduous hours later, we reached Stella Point at 18, feet, and my sister and I forged ahead with one of our guides, leaving our mother with the other guide and our two summit porters to go it at their own pace. When my mother put her hand on the Uhuru Peak sign, she looked back and attempted a frozen faced smile that we found particularly amusing above 19, feet. This regressed into a giggling gaggle of three exhausted and fulfilled women who had no concept of where they were or how they got there.

But most importantly, be sure to laugh the whole way up. Any woman would be lucky to have a little bit of Marty Behrens spirit. That makes me the luckiest — asante sana Mama C! Skip to main content.