Big things start small

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

Chaplain

Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)

Talamban, Cebu City

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com

SOME people approach life the way toddlers approach an all-you-can-eat buffet: one gigantic plate, zero strategy, and complete confidence that nothing could possibly go wrong. 

They announce world-changing plans before breakfast, only to discover by lunchtime that they cannot even keep a houseplant alive. Thankfully, Christ's parables of the mustard seed and the yeast (cfr. Mt 13,31-35) offer a gentler, wiser approach: start small. Very small. So small that your ego may need counseling.

The mustard seed does not demand to become a towering tree overnight. The yeast does not throw a dramatic press conference announcing its intention to inflate an entire bakery by noon. They simply do their quiet work. Meanwhile, humans are busy writing ten-year plans after watching one motivational video and purchasing expensive planners that will remain suspiciously blank after February.

There is profound wisdom in beginning with little things. Small beginnings build strong foundations, unlike castles constructed entirely from wishful thinking and inspirational quotes. 

More importantly, the ordinary moments of daily life are precisely where God quietly waits for us. Scripture reminds us that God's will is our sanctification, not our successful audition for the role of "Most Impressive Person on Earth."

Starting small also keeps us from the dangerous sport of premature greatness. Many brilliant projects have collapsed because someone confused enthusiasm with competence. Patience grows best when watered daily by humble effort instead of flashy ambition. Even better, small beginnings gently force us to rely on God's providence instead of our own oversized confidence.

This means finding God in ordinary routines: washing dishes without composing a personal tragedy, answering emails without declaring war on your inbox, smiling at difficult people instead of secretly nominating them for exile. 

Suddenly, these tiny actions become holy because they are no longer just our own efforts. They become opportunities to cooperate with God rather than starring in the one-person show called "Look What I Accomplished."

People often dream of performing spectacular acts of holiness. They imagine heroic sacrifices, dramatic miracles, or perhaps receiving heavenly applause after surviving an especially difficult committee meeting. 

Yet true greatness usually arrives disguised as countless unnoticed acts of kindness, patience, honesty, and love. Heaven apparently has a soft spot for people who quietly do the right thing without demanding a trophy or at least a commemorative coffee mug.

Never underestimate the power of little things. Tiny acts of love accumulate like compound interest, except the dividends are eternal. Ignore them, however, and you may discover that you have mastered impressive speeches about faith while remaining spectacularly impatient with slow cashiers and family members who chew too loudly.

Christ himself offered the perfect performance review: whoever is faithful in little things will also be faithful in much. That sounds wonderfully simple until your greatest spiritual challenge turns out to be remaining charitable before your first cup of coffee. Apparently, sainthood begins much closer to the kitchen sink than to the spotlight.

Sanctity may indeed require heroic courage, perhaps even martyrdom for some. For most of us, however, heroism wears ordinary clothes. It means consistently choosing love when nobody notices, nobody applauds, and nobody posts it online. Hidden faithfulness can be remarkably heroic.

So, spend your day asking, "Lord, what should I do with this moment?" Whether facing exciting work, tedious chores, or endless waiting, invite Christ into every little task. The mustard seed never looked impressive on day one, but somehow it still managed to outgrow every oversized ego in the garden.

 

MARTIN BRAMBACH MUSSTE IN KLINIK Fitness-Neustart mit 58 für „Tatort Star“

 

I feel I could be better

By Klaus Döring

July 24, 2026

Feeling like you can do better is a great sign. It means you are growing. To make changes, pick just one small thing to focus on today. Break your big goals into tiny, easy steps. Track what you do on a “done list” — a list of your small wins. You can use the idea of beating a “high score” in a video game to improve your own life. Instead of looking at what other people are doing, try to beat your past self.

Often in life, we come across relationships and people who are never happy with us. There may be times when you have given your all, but you still realize that you’ll never be good enough for some people.

This feeling is really sad and hurtful, and it makes you doubt yourself. This is when you feel that the world will never be satisfied with you, and there could be days when you feel like a failure.

But life is not about perfection; it’s about accepting the people we love as they are. When one person’s expectations are too high, it’s not possible to be good enough for them, no matter what you do. Never let this feeling make you depressed or feel low.

Amid daily changes in the world of work, there’s never been a better time for employees to cultivate skills that can help them better manage workplace challenges. This is where the idea of the “growth mindset” comes roaring in — the belief that workers are capable of actively improving their abilities rather than being innately able or unable to complete certain tasks.

Yet, this “can-do” mindset can be more difficult to harness than it seems. Doing so means becoming comfortable with embracing hurdles, learning from criticism, and persisting when things get difficult.

Even if we believe that such tenacity is worth developing, doubts and fears can dominate in practice. “We’re wired to believe our emotions,” says Elaine Elliott-Moskwa, a psychologist and author of “The Growth Mindset Workbook,” based in Princeton, New Jersey. “When a person says, ‘I feel I’m not good enough,’ that feeling is very powerful, even though it is a belief about their abilities.”

At the heart of the growth mindset is learning to overcome such feelings of inability or inadequacy in the face of obstacles and instead recognize an opportunity to learn. There can be profound benefits to cultivating this approach. Employees with a growth mindset can tap into useful skills to manage stress, build supportive relationships with colleagues, cope with failure, and develop attributes to help further their careers.

Approaching a challenge with a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset is a choice anyone can make.

Stanford professor and psychologist Carol Dweck narrowed this concept down to two approaches that can determine results: “fixed mindset” and “growth mindset.” “Fixed mindset is the idea that your abilities are high or low, and there’s not too much you can do to change it,” says Elliott-Moskwa, “whereas the growth mindset is the view that your abilities are malleable or changeable.”

While some people may naturally lean more one way than the other, people do not have either a fixed or growth mindset toward all problems. Instead, approaching a challenge with a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset is a choice anyone can make.

For many people, though, moments of difficulty often spur fixed mindsets. For example, Elliott-Moskwa says that when people receive criticism from a boss or struggle with a new task, they might feel a sense of inadequacy. In these situations, a fixed-mindset response might be, “I’m not good enough,” or “I can’t do it,” she says.

By contrast, a growth mindset takes a different approach to the same situation. People with growth mindsets do not interpret such moments as personal failings but instead recognize a need to improve. Crucially, people working with a growth mindset believe they are capable of such improvement and can break down challenges into achievable steps.

This means getting out of one’s comfort zone and accepting a certain level of risk, uncertainty, and potential failure that comes with trying something new. “It feels a little bit uncomfortable and also a little bit exciting,” says Isabella Venour, a London-based mindset coach who helps professionals understand the role their beliefs, values, and patterns of thinking play in the workplace. “You’ve got a bit of risk that it might go wrong, but you’ve also got the potential to learn something and to grow as an individual.”

Why is the growth mindset important in the workplace right now? A can-do approach is always a plus in the workplace — it demonstrates that workers are adaptable and willing to evolve within their jobs and organizations. But fostering a growth mindset also plays an important role in helping workers navigate turbulence and improve their resilience, as they feel more confident and capable of handling difficulties.

How can you improve your growth mindset? The first step toward encouraging a growth mindset is personal awareness: the ability to identify fixed-mindset thinking when it occurs, which often manifests as feelings of discomfort or inadequacy in the face of a challenge.

First, Elliott-Moskwa advises recognizing and accepting such feelings instead of beating yourself up over them. “Then, mindfully make another choice to take an action step in keeping with what you would be doing if you had a growth mindset — the belief that you could increase your abilities,” she says.

To help clients approach obstacles with a growth mindset, Venour often breaks down challenges that feel overwhelming into smaller pieces. For example, if a worker feels unable to give a presentation in front of colleagues, “How much of that is emotional, and how much of that is factual?” she asks. “Can they talk? Yes. Have they spoken in front of more than one person before? Yes. Have they done presentation slides before? Yes. So, if there are elements that they can do, what is the part that they’re not comfortable with?”

Narrowing down an overwhelming challenge to a specific point of difficulty helps workers focus and reduces the amount of learning required to an achievable level.

Often, the learning itself requires asking for help. One of the key concepts of a growth mindset is seeing others as inspiration rather than competition, an approach that can help foster collaborative teams. “If workers view others as resources and not as competitors, they’re open to sharing other people’s skills and abilities and learning from fellow employees,” says Elliott-Moskwa.

Over time, recognizing a fixed mindset and practicing a growth mindset can become easier, and the prospect of taking on challenges can become less daunting. “Growth mindset is an empowering attitude,” says Venour. “You can really develop and grow over time as a person.”

Sometimes, you might feel like you’re not good enough or unique enough, but everyone is unique. Everyone has a different personality.

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Email: doringklaus@gmail.com, or visit me on Facebook or LinkedIn. You may also visit www.germanexpatinthephilippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic.blogspot.com.

DON’T WORRY – BE HAPPY!

 

By Mindanao Daily News -July 23, 2026

“Don’t Worry, Be Happy” was written and recorded by jazz vocalist and musician Bobby McFerrin. Released in 1988, the track was the first a cappella song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and it won three Grammy Awards in 1989, including Song of the Year.

Almost on the way to the airport ,  I get this in mind: we hardly count our blessings. We enjoy counting our crosses. Instead of gains, we count our losses. We don’t have to do all that counting – computers do it for us. Information is easily had.

Just remember this: Opportunity doesn’t just knock – it jiggles the doorknob, and “your friend” – the worrier, is with you day and night, at every corner, following your every step. Complaining and grumbling are good excuses, aren’t they? We have time and opportunities to do almost anything. So why haven’t we done it? We have the freedom of bondage or restraint, every one of us in his or her very special way – but, we’re still our old inferior selves.

The whole world is an awful place filled with dreadful and terrible negativism. No wonder, if you check the daily news.Yes, I confess, I am also surrounded by many worriers who put their fears into me! Politicians, i.e., many times love to search for some grave alarm that will cause individuals to abandon their separate concerns and act in concert, so that politicians can wield the baton. Calls to fatal struggles and fights are forever being surrounded.

But at this moment, I am counting my blessings and thank our Almighty God for everything.

Well, when will we start counting our courage and not our fears, or enjoy instead our woes? Worrying itself is pointless. Of course,  no society has achieved perfect rules of law, never-ending education or unique responsible governments. Let’s seek out the worries but avoid the warriors, because they try to avoid liberty.

Stop worrying and boost your happiness by anchoring yourself in the present and reframing your mindset. Try allocating a 15-minute “scheduled worry” window daily to contain anxiety, practicing present-moment mindfulness, and listing three things you are grateful for.

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:25-34.