ANTICIPATION
'"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best - " and then he had
to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good
thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it
which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it
was called.' A.A. Milne
Sometimes anticipation is almost better than the
real thing. For me at this time of year it's the thought of
summer just around the corner, the promise of long hot days
where it's warm enough to swim in the ocean. Lazy afternoons
lying underneath a tree with a book and mild nights where we sit
outside with a glass of wine and talk until late...days that
seem to linger on forever.
All through our lives we anticipate the future. Some of us
with a degree of trepidation, others with an almost unrealistic
optimism and the rest of us, somewhere in between. When you were
young you had some of the pieces of the puzzle of what you
wanted from adulthood in your mind. You wanted to travel or
marry young or become a pro golfer. You wanted the same or a
very different life to the one your family created for you. You
wanted to learn more, laugh more or work less. You anticipated
that life would be the same or different somehow.
Sadly, so many people reach adulthood and ask 'is this all
there is?'. The life they had anticipated hasn't come to
fruition or if it has, it doesn't feel the way that they had
expected it would.
What do you do when anticipation is no longer a blissful
pastime? Do you accept the way things are or continue to look
for new things to dream about?
As with so many of the topics we discuss here, there's a fine
balance between being with the way things are and acknowledging
that this just isn't enough. And quite simply, if it doesn't
feel that it's enough, it's not.
If there's nothing joyful that springs to mind when you think
of the word 'anticipation', it's time to dig a little deeper.
Even the small things we look forward to bring about change in
the way we view the world.
As we near the close of yet another year, think about what
you are anticipating - for the next few months, for 2008 and
maybe even for the next five years.
Are there things to look forward to in a range of areas of
your life?
Are there little things you look forward to every day?
Read more about the little things you can do in 'small
pleasures, life's treasures' in my blog at
http://calmcreative.blogspot.com/. |
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