Expectations

Thinking is neither right nor wrong. It is what it is. Thoughts are the undirected flow of words and images in your mind.

Thinking is not action. Thinking is not the same as Being. Thinking is not doing.

It has been said that we judge others by their actions and ourselves, by our intentions. Judgement requires thinking.

Our intentions are just thoughts without action, a salve for our egos. As long as we believe we will do something, we can console ourselves for our lack of action.

Some of was want some white knight in shining armour to come along and make our intentions real. We look outside ourselves for a saviour, a motivator to spring us into action.

In reality, we know that will never happen. Only we, each of us,  can move ourselves, as motivation suggests, to take the necessary steps to accomplish our intentions, hopes and dreams.

 

When I was young I believed life had some great task for me to perform. And, I believed I would live the great American dream finding both Fame and Fortune.

Yet here I am 65 years old, I've lived an ordinary life. How, am I to live with the disappointment. Or, should I be happy with the journey I have travelled?

This is your story. You can live in the past with regret and disappointment or worry about the future. You can focus on your lack, or you can focus on your abundance.

 

Thinking is a tool. A plan is a guide to action. Anything else is a waste of time designed to make you believe you are taking some real action.

That is not to say that it is wrong to choose not to do something. Whatever you choose to do is best for you. Accepting that you actually are choosing without condemning yourself or others is a different matter.

You choose change. You choose risk. You choose to do something that you feel is best for you. As you move in the direction you want to go, as you experience the path you choose, you accept what it is.

Whatever happens, is. You cannot change it. You can make efforts to alter the path you are on; once you become aware of what is happening, there is nothing you can do to change it.

You can only direct your attention to the next event that you are experiencing. You do choose your path, in the next moment, which is now this moment., which is now already past, and that is now.

It feels weird, something like a mathematical puzzle. Yet, there is always one more moment ahead of you to look forward to. That is life.

If you want to write a story, you need to come into the room where your computer is. Then you need to sit at the chair and turn on the computer. All the while you are breathing and feeling and seeing around you.

What you write may be full of thoughts and fears and hopes. Your worry about not getting your message across, you worry that others will see you as weird, you hope that your message will at least touch one other person.

All of those things happen in the moment. Aware of this moment, you simply accept that thoughts are events that occur in you mind.

Touching the keys on the keyboard is real; the fear and doubt in you mind is imagined.

I have been on a journey. I accept that my experiences did not meet my expectations. But what does that mean? Are imagined standards something useful to judge myself by?

Imagination is nothing but imagination. We all have a sad and woeful story to tell. Yet, I am real and here and now.  Being is what I have, even if I were the King of Canada.

Reality is what is set out before you in this very moment. You gotta love it. There isn't anything else. Yesterday is part of the history and tomorrow is the unknown.

So Breathe in this moment and feel it in all your pores. And remember to see,  taste, smell, touch and feel every moment as though it is the only one you have. 

That is Living and Being in the moment.

Expect nothing more.

 

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Comments

  • 12/5/2008 10:48 PM Lori wrote:
    You know, I just found this particular
    entry this evening. I had tagged this blog for my favorites probably back in July when you wrote this. Tonight for some reason I looked at it and read it aloud to my husband. We nodded, we smiled..we loved it. It meant something to us..at this moment.

    So I am taking this time to let you know. That something you scribbled several months ago touched people in Buffalo who forwarded it on to those that we feel will appreicate it.

    Thanks for your inspiring thoughts. I will check back frequently for some fresh perspective. Take care, Lori
    Reply to this
    1. 12/6/2008 1:43 PM Gilles Hamann wrote:
      Thank you Lori, for the kind comments.

      I haven't been writing much lately. The 90 or so articles on this site are the result of  my own personal struggles to make sense of life.  I'm happy that others can find something to help them too.

      Years ago, I read about NLP and other psychologies  that I found interesting. More recently I have been greatly influenced by the writings of Eckhart Tolle (The New Earth).

      How we expect the world to behave is often the cause of many of our own problems.

      We cannot change the world, but we can change how we respond to it.  We cannot change what happens around us, but we can change  those ideas about how we think the world should behave, our expectations,

      Gilles

      Life happens now.

      Reply to this
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