SUCCULENT

EXPECTATIONS

This word, EXPECTATIONS has been rambling around in my mind the last few days. It is a very powerful word because it is so ever present. I think I can speak for all of us that we wake up in the morning and go through our day with EXPECTATIONS of how we want something to be or don’t want something to be. Sometimes I find myself EXPECTING, that is in ANTICIPATION of something exciting or rewarding to come about. However if ‘it’ does not feel the way I would like, I feel disappointed and let down. The only EXPECTATION I can count on is that the sun ‘rises’ each day even if I can’t ‘see’ it.

We all experience EXPECTATIONS everyday. When we go for a meal, go shopping (for anything), go to a movie or a performance . . . it’s all in the ‘looking forward to’ that is half the fun. It is all a matter of ATTITUDE and DEGREE.

 A friend and I enjoy a Saturday having lunch together and then we play BINGO. This game is so amazing in that it provides so much simple fun as well as lessons in PAYING ATTENTION, listening, action (or non-action, depending on what number is called, winning or( briefly feeling the let down by not winning). I love the ANTICIPATION we all share until that moment when someone (or I) call out BINGO! We all share in the moment of victory for the winner and compassion for the rest of us.

Over the years I have worked very hard on my ATTITUDE about my EXPECTATIONS of myself and of course, others. It feels good to know that when I do the best I can in any endeavor, I know that I INTEND to reach a certain achievement and even if I don’t, I can let the DISAPPOINTMENT slip by without too much struggle. The important issue here is that I put forth EFFORT and CONFIDENCE. I keep forging ahead toward the next . . .

EXPECTATIONS are slippery, very much like a conundrum and a paradox in many ways. It is important to remember, we all experience all these emotions and happenings but it is what we do with them that makes the difference. Instead of grumbling and complaining about what we don’t like, we can find something to APPRECIATE.

Many of us feel a sort of let down about our life and how it is now. Our EXPECTATIONS may have been shattered by something or other. I certainly recall many EXPECTATIONS that didn’t work out but they were always for the best. They got me to where I am today!

I do my best to see the good in everything, whether pending or already past. I always learn something about myself and others. The glass is either half full or half empty.

There are a great many events and happenings in the world we have no control over but there is a great deal we can control, our ATTITUDE and our ‘talking’ about our views in a positive way, with verbalizing EXPECTATIONS in a kindly manner, instead of with low EXPECTATIONS. When I think of all the marvelous service we all receive here at the Village, we have an OPPORTUNITY to look at how we can raise our own EXPECTATIONS and uplift those of others.

EXPECTATIONS is a tool and a gift for us to use to raise our own EXPECTATIONS of ourselves and that of others. As long as I’m AWARE of what my EXPECTATIONS are, then I can proceed with higher EXPECTATIONS of myself. That is a gift in itself.

EXPECT the best

Accept what is

Keep going, with gratitude.

BLESSINGS