the lock that always sticks
the client that can never remember what you said
that kink in your neck
slight allergies, slightly foggy head
the girl on the team who’s always cranky
those too-tight trousers
the way your partner greets you (s.he can do better)
the way you greet your partner (you can do better, and you know it, and you want to)
those damn e-newsletters that are so tricky to unsubscribe from that you just hit delete and curse at the screen

the pebble in your shoe is bigger than you think

Small, annoying things. Energy leaks. We tend to discredit the slight aggravations in life and work because our attention is on accomplishing the big things. But think about trying to walk with a grain of sand in your sock. You won’t go more than a block until you frantically peel off your shoe and give things a firm shake ‘n swipe. Ahhh, relief. Think about the dramatic effect of a pin prick to an inner tube, the power of a mosquito, that impact of a sliver.

Every time you make REPEATED contact with aggravating tasks and situations, you make a conscious or unconscious choice to endure (the root of the word endure is “to suffer”) and to settle with less than ideal.

This kind of aggravation triggers resentment and bad ju-ju. We direct our pissed-off vibe outward (Damn landlord needs to fix this lock) or inward (These too tight pants are what I get for being so lazy). And in doing so, we affirm any feelings of helplessness and overwhelm that are floating in our consciousness. And a little bit of our energy zipples out of our sails.

fix the small stuff

Noticing—really noticing—what’s rubbing on you is part of being conscious. When subtleties grab your attention, you are not OCD, you’re lucid. When you deal with the annoyances, you’re not a control freak, you’re the master of your reality. Look at it this way: energy leaks are usually really easy to fix because they’re small. It’s simply a matter of stopping to tend to them. When you fix the stuff that’s picking at you, you get relief, and that freshness helps you focus on the big stuff.

god + mastery are in the details. so is your freedom.

Where’s the rub in your day-to-day? Make a plan to cure, dissolve, or absolve it.

What’s the mosquito-like thought form that’s zifting in your psyche? Visualize rinsing it away; make a phone call that will settle things.

What’s broken that you want fixed? Hire a handyman, find a homeopath, reach out and mend it with love.

Your vitality deserves an as-soon-as-possible response.

Get on it. Because you have bigger things to do.


Danielle LaPorte is the outspoken creator of The Desire Map, author of The Fire Starter Sessions (Random House/Crown), and co-creator of Your Big Beautiful Book Plan. An inspirational speaker, former think tank exec and business strategist, she writes weekly at DanielleLaPorte.com, where over a million visitors have gone for her straight-up advice — a site that’s been deemed “the best place on-line for kick-ass spirituality”, and was named one of the “Top 100 Websites for Women” by Forbes.

You can also find her on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter @daniellelaporte.

*Featured image by hardworkinghippy