No Expectations

When one goes threw life with expectations, one often ends up upset. One year I went into work on my birthday, with a big smile on my face, expecting flowers, balloons and a decorated office. I came in and found nothing, nada, zilch! The entire day went by without a mere mention of my birthday. At the end of the day as my boss was leaving, he wished me happy holidays and left. That day, I left the office in tears and vowed never to come to work on my birthday again. This year, my birthday fell before an office closure and so I decided I'd rather just go to work on my birthday and then take off after the holiday weekend. So I went to work that day with negative zero expectations, which is good because when I got there, again....nothing, nada, zilch! Then my mother called and proceeded to ask me if my roof held up during the torrential down pour the week before and then started telling me about her trip with her boyfriend! (Gee...good thing I had no expectations!). After that my friends started posting birthday wishes on Facebook and some work friends saw that and started emailing me and coming by to give their well wishes. By the end of the day I had two bouquets of flowers, a bouquet of balloons, a pie and two cakes all with candles and a room full of peers singing happy birthday to me! Oh mom called me back 8 hours later in disbelief that she totally forgot! So maybe having no expectations is key to allowing the blessings to flow threw.

My life has been so calculated and planned, that I never really allowed my guard down enough to just let life happen and throw caution into the wind and see what happens. After high school I planned that I'd go to college, get a job, get married by age 24, have my first kid at 25 and another, 2-3 years later....and guess what? That's exactly what I did! So maybe, instead of a New Year's resolution to loose weight, as is every year, maybe this year I'll resolve to have no expectations of others, only of myself. Maybe I'll be more spontaneous and enjoy the life I've been given more. Maybe it's time to start enjoying the blessings instead of just counting them.