Exchanging expectations or trading them in for appreciation. I never understood what it meant until I started to realize all the times that I was angry, all the times that I was frustrated, and all the times that I felt like I didn’t have control over things. And I realized that there were so many expectations that I had from people in my life and from situations in my life that were not being met. And when they weren’t being met, I turned to anger or sadness. And instead, when I started to look at each of those people or situations, I said to myself, “What could I really appreciate in this moment, now?” Everything changed. The anger went away, and the sadness went away. Even the need for control went away.
And it’s that blueprint, right? That expectation, that anticipation, the idea that we actually get to control everything that’s going on in our universe. And I go, “No, you don’t get to control it,” but you do get to decide how you engage with it. And so, truly, from the fundamentals, if you look at it and say, “Is life happening for me or to me?” And there’s this kind of presupposition that goes along with that, and that is, if I do accept that life’s happening for me, then I go, “Does that mean that all the challenging stuff is there for a reason and a purpose?” Well, what if I actually just appreciated it rather than having this expectation that I’m supposed to fight my way through it or that I’m supposed to wage battle against all these different things. We hear kind of opposing and conflicting information, when a challenge is in front of you, you have to step up. You gotta burn the boats. And I go, “Wow, is that another expectation, or is that someone else’s narrative?” Because here’s the facts. The only time my sister, we can actually trade it is if we actually know where we’re living. What is that? And I go, well, for some people, they’re living in the future. Everything’s future paced. It’s like, okay, well, tomorrow. Tomorrow it’ll be a better day. Tomorrow. I go, well, what about now, what about this moment? Do you just have to accept the suckiness or can you actually, “huh?” That was a valuable lesson.
Is life happening for us or to us? It evolved for me. It evolved with me through my coach. And she said, “What if life was happening through us?” It wasn’t for us or to us. It was just through us. And that resonated a lot more with me because there wasn’t this force that I had to like, “Oh, it’s happening for me, so I have to accept it. It’s not happening to me, so I have to accept it.” It’s happening through me, so I get to accept it. Definitely. It gives us an opportunity to be present and listen. When we just get to. And that’s the other part: it’s not a have-to. We don’t have to be on the show. We choose to, and we get to. So why is it so important? Because of the level of appreciation for our community, for those of you that are joining us and listening to us, here’s what’s great: It’s not about influence; it’s about presence. My fervent hope is that you feel that authenticity and are living in this moment, and that’s just all gratitude and appreciation.
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