Saturday, January 3, 2015

As the New Year opens I again find myself contemplating that generally berated concept, resolutions.
A few folks I know refuse to even consider the thought, let alone the action, of making New Year's resolutions.  But we always end up talking about them anyway particularly the part of slaying them in often spectacular fashion at some later date.

A few years ago I made the resolution to stop asking "why" about anything.  I realized somewhere along the line that if I had to ask "why" then it was almost certainly probable I would not understand the answer.  If, after observation, I didn't get it then having it explained would do me no good.  I then learned to ask "how, what, when, where and [usually most importantly] how much".  Cynical I suppose but that isn't germane here.  I've tried to stick to this, not always successfully, but I do try and one thing that has come of this is that it slows me down on the way to making snap judgments.

This year I've decided to give up on the concept of expectations.  If I expect something and it doesn't happen I am disappointed.  Even if it does happen it rarely, if ever, manifests as I envisioned and, once again sets the stage for disappointment.  So, no more placing the energy into expectations.  What I now will concentrate on doing instead is going about the day to day , putting one foot in front of the other and living my best life... without expectations__of myself and others and the world in general.

What will this do?

Well, if I can manage to pull this off I see it bringing the aspect of surprise to nearly each and every moment.  Some of these surprises may be negative [almost certainly] but many will be positive.   In deciding to walk this path I'm hoping to begin to see the world around me with fresh eyes.

And in saying that I suppose I've made an expectation.