Expectations

I believe that one of the hardest challenges in life is too live it without expectations. Buddha says, that too love without expecting love in return is the purest love of all, to give without needing a thanks or seeing a response is truly giving...but it is hard for us. We want acknowledgement. We glow in the warmth of thank yous and the give and take of life. The challenge is to feel the glow from within your own soul rather than to feel it only if it comes from outside ourselves.

Yesterday was filled with expectations. It is the holiday season. Can the whole day be ruined by a few rude, crazies trying to accomplish the Saturday tasks or can we forgive and give grace for other actions without flipping them off. First snow brings a glow, for some it signals hardship. It is all your perspective.

We spent the afternoon only shopping the small shops and found wonderful treasures. We came away not only with the purchases but an unexpected gift, connection. Shop owners made the effort to connect and we were no longer a person in check stand #1 but a local, treated with respect. Business was improved for both sides by the effort of the connection. It is the unexpected gift that has forged a relationship.

Holiday parties small and large were occurring and when you passed different venues you could see the possibilities. But it is different this year. So much has been lost. Many businesses are gone. There is an undercurrent of stress and the glow is a little dimmer. Expectations can be disappointing because each year brings new possibilities and when we expect to have the same feeling it will set you up to have unfulfilled expectations. Anger/disappointment are the result because we needed something from outside ourselves that we could not find from within.

I fail and readjust each day to keep my compass on the soul within and feel growth. I try to live so that it is my soul that guides me not my mind and it is challenging. What I do know is that each day I get stronger because I have less need to be patted on the back that it is my own heart that gives me warmth.