Expectations

Looking forward to an event is both exciting and perilous. We spend much of our time in the expectation of some future occurrence which may or may not happen. Even if it does happen will it turn out to be a positive or a negative impact.

Expectations are exciting when the outlook appears positive. Children can't wait until Christmas or a birthday, knowing boxes wrapped in colorful paper are filled with new toys. Even if the number one toy of the year isn't part of the array of gifts, there are still many others from which to choose. Adolescents look forward to the day they are no longer considered children and more and more privileges are granted to them. Adults look forward to significant events like a new job, a reward for diligent labor, or gaining the respect of peers.

There is another side of the coin of expectation. It is a little darker. Its the peril of not living up to societies norms. Whether its failure to satisfy parents or peers, the expectations placed upon an individual have been known to effect many people adversely.

There is a solution to the dilemma. Live in the present. Appreciate each day for what it is. There is nothing you can do to change the past and nothing you can do to hasten the future. While living in expectation, we miss the present. Looking forward to significant events is not wrong, but missing the present is.

Look back on previous mistakes to remember not to take that same path again. But don't allow those setbacks to negatively control your thought process. No one sits down and decides to make a bad decision. Decisions are made because they seem to be right at the time. Some just go bad later. Don't allow mistakes made in the past to define the present. Start over as many times as it takes to put yourself in the present. The past is past; it's not the now.

Looking forward to an important event is okay as long as you don't live in the future always wanting to achieve something you don't currently have. Enjoy what you do have now. Don't miss the present for the future.

And now abide past, present, future these three; but the greatest of these is present. Live in it with confident assurance.