Unconditional Life

“Nothing you become will disappoint me; I have no preconception that I’d like to see you be or do. I have no desire to foresee you, only to discover you. You cannot disappoint me.”
-Naomi Aldort, “Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves”

I love this quote, not only because it reminds me of what perception I may have if I were to unconditionally love someone… But also the perception I wish to wholeheartedly embody when approaching life.

Can you imagine what life would be like if nothing were a disappointment? What if the only desire we had was to discover it? No expectations, no conditional circumstances to define our happiness or satisfaction…

What a beautiful experience that would be.

Even more so beautiful is the idea that the experience is not only possible, it is readily available to us as soon as we are willing to let go of our expectations and judgements of what is right or wrong, good or bad about life.

It is ALL experience.

And whether we are to discover the experience of happiness and love, or the experience of sadness and betrayal… None of it is disappointing. It is all just another fragment to discover in this unlimited, ever-abundant experience of life!

Live freely!
-Marin

Expecting the Best

“Expect the best. Plan for the worst. Prepare to be surprised.”

What is the best? Can we honestly say we know what the best is for ourselves?
Can we really foresee what the worst is, and plan for that?
When is the best and worst going to happen?

I find that expectations have become a part of my everyday habit and it didn’t take long to realize how much misery it caused me. Little things from sunny and 70 yesterday, to four inches of snow today… “Gah! &@*%$!!! When is it going to be warm already?!” And on to more “important” things, like investments taking a downturn when the economy crashed. What an unfavorable ride on the emotional roller coaster… Day in and day out.

This idea has always been confusing to me. It gives us the idea that we have some sort of control on outcomes and circumstances that are brought forth into our lives. The truth is we have little control over what actually occurs in our lives and in the instances that we do have some control, the possibility of something happening that takes us out of control is outrageously high.

The good news is, we have one thing we do have control of, and that is our perspective.

Expectations in our perspective is a breeding ground for stress and disappointment. Think of the times you had high expectations from someone or something, maybe even yourself, and felt an overwhelming surge of disappointment when the circumstances did not live up to your expectations?

Looking back at all the best things that have happened in my life, I could have never planned nor predicted when and what would come. I used to think I could plan on success and that being successful was the best for me, but even in all my successful successes, I was seriously unhappy. Happiness is not a goal. It is a way of life.

I find the happiest moments are unexpected. And so, I like to say:
Expect nothing and nothing will fall short of your happiness 🙂
What are some of the things you have been unexpectedly surprised with?