Yesterday as I was mowing the lawn I came to an impasse. Try as I might I could not get the mower to move forward and the blades to turn.

We belong to the small subset of home owners who choose to use a push mower for cutting their lawn. It is true that a gasoline powered mower does cut the grass with a cleaner look. Since we don't subscribe to the weedless, movie set green grass lawn, the push mower is fine. Using the mower gives us a nice little workout, doesn't emit any carbon and it tucks in nicely into a corner of our shed.

As I was trying to push the mower forward I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was holding it up. I stopped, looked over the blade, tried turning it the other direction but to no avail. It was only when I turned the mower on its side did I notice a small piece of mulch wedged between one of the blades and the safety cross piece on the bottom. That little dickens of wood was holding up all the blades from turning.

Had me wondering what little things in my life impede me from moving forward? Are there small habits, seemingly harmless friendships or activities that are keeping me in a stand still? Are there well intended activities that are just in the wrong context or wrong timing? Are they items that I don't even notice but just wonder why I can't move on?

Mulch is a good thing. It helps with water retention, weed control and overall makes a garden seemed finished. It is just that when it is not in its proper place in the garden bed but instead is on the lawn then there is potential for just what happened; it gets tossed up in the blades and can jam the mower.

Lately I have been wondering why I cannot move forward with a certain writing project. In the past I was moving along with great speed but now I feel that every turn, every movement and every attempt to push along with it is met with resistance. I need to remind myself to stop, assess what is impeding my process, remove the obstacle and continue along.

What about you? Do you find yourself not being able to move forward in a situation? Is there something preventing you from just beginning? Or have you come to a complete stop in the middle? Have you checked it from all sides- does the impediment come from you or an outside source? Is it something that you can remove? Is it something that you need to avoid?

Sometimes the smallest thing can be the biggest blockage to accomplishment.