Expectations and Joy

Expectations!  They can generate much anticipation for something good... or bad.  They can create some friendly emotions as well as negative ones - and all this without actually anything happening for real.

Hmmm....

So, what's the vote?  Are expectations good or bad for us?

I'm not sure that my current position on expectations is one that is for the long run or even balanced, but probably the result of circumstances and past experiences and season of life.  I'm thinking, at least for today, that I need to let go of expectations altogether.  Release them as if they are weighing me down, generating disappointments, taking my mind to a possible future that likely will not occur.

Sometimes I find that I am not living for the moment because I am looking out to some expectation that I'm hoping will come to fruition in my life.  Just waiting... waiting to be fulfilled when that said 'thing' happens.  Not living in the moment and finding joy in it, but waiting.  And waiting on something that, in all honesty, even if it did occur would not be a display of exactly what I was hoping for.

I'm aware that this type of lifestyle is NOT optimum.

So, when I find myself in this state, I have been attempting to simply remove expectations and turn my focus on the NOW and seek to make the most of life right now.

It is definitely easier to look at life with, 'The grass is greener' mentality.  Either it would be greener, when or if...  It's easy, but then you spend your life waiting and not living.

Even when the right now is hard and challenging, perhaps to make the most of our time and energy it would be best to release those expectations and simply turn our focus on how we can live the best we can for today.

I am hoping to find fulfillment in JUST BEING.  Not in my circumstances or what might or might not happen in my life... but simply being who I am and attempting to be the best I can in each minute of each day - fully engaged and focused on the NOW.