Messages from The Goatheads: How Small Things Can Make A Big Difference

How can something so small teach you something so BIG? Well, it can. It happened to me starting years ago when I began riding a bike around the city of Santa Fe. I didn't drive a car so I rode a bike for 12 years. During that time, I had a problem that was very difficult to solve: Goatheads. You probably know them and seen them and even stepped on them yourself. They are these tiny seeds that grow from weeds. I didn't know anything about them until they began showing up in my bicycle tires. Yup. When goathead season arrived I would get a flat tire. And it was annoying. Frustrating. Especially if I had to go work and when I got there I had a flat tire. Sometimes I was near a bicycle shop and take it for a fixing. Other times I had to fix it myself with patches, glue, and all.

But there was something I began to learn each time this goathead thing happened. Awareness. After many flat tires, I began to see that the goatheads were teaching me to be aware of not just where I was going but mostly where I am. Rather than settling for the angry part about the goatheads which is usually the case, I began to watch where I was riding as much as where I was going. And it was difficult for a very long time to maintain such awareness.

And now the goatheads have returned. I don't ride my bike anymore because I drive now. But lately they have been showing up on my front porch and in the house. Because they stick to my shoes, and I walk through the house, the goatheads have returned. Lately, I have been pricked by a goathead and it hurts! There is no blood. There is only a small pain like a needle at a doctor's visit. It is painful. So I told myself, or rather I knew intuitively, that the goatheads had a new message for me again. Be aware. And that's what they are teaching me. To be aware of the ground beneath but not afraid. Pay attention to its beauty.

How can something so small teach me something so BIG? It can. It will. Just pay attention to the little things. They have a lot to teach you, and share with you. I didn't get this at first because I believed I was being punished, or that I was having a bad day, but it was nothing personal towards me. That was the first thing I needed to learn. And the second thing: the gift of Nature.

The smallest things in Nature can make a big difference. Goatheads, bugs, flowers, plants, leaves, snowflakes, raindrops, stones, and every small creature can bring a great shift in our awareness of self.

The message from the goatheads is that "We are small, yet we are important just as much as the house you live in, the water you drink, the clothes you wear, the pets you play with, and the stones you love."

Knowing this makes a huge difference in how I see goatheads now, and in a larger sense, LIFE. I see that small things can make a big difference. They can make us see things we don't usually see, feel things we may not like to feel, and do things even that we may not prefer to do.

I notice them now. I sense them outside and inside. Sometimes they surprise me. But I'm not angry like I used to be.