To me, anticipation is the Universe's way of slowly unfolding my life's path.
Afterall, none of us knows EXACTLY what the whole picture is for each of us. If there was a crystal ball that I could peer in to and find out every detail of the upcoming acts on the stage that is my life, would I really want to know? Because if I did, the beautiful mysteries would be over. I would cease to look upon the sky in wonderment every day. I wouldn't look at anything or anyone quite the same. It's like when I was a kid and anticipated Christmas so much. Unfortunately, I was impatient back then. My mother hid the wrapped presents under her bed and in her closet. When she wasn't home, I would carefully unwrap each one and then tape them back together before she returned. Anticipation soon turned out to be disappointment by Christmas morning. I already new the outcome. There was no mystery. No surprises.
There was a time in my life when I was sure that there was no mystery out there. I was sure that my path was one paved with difficulties and hardships that I would have to walk on with cut feet every day.
Over the past two years, I have found a sense of freedom. I'm so much more patient with everything I do. I love the mystery. I love the anticipation of what lies ahead. Life is full of grand possibilities and good things to come. I love unearthing all of the unique and special qualities about me. I live in bright colors now, where once it was all off-white. Without anticipation, I could not walk this path with wonder and gratitude for what is up ahead.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
Yes...anticipation. I know that feeling well. :)
Seeing the future - is that something you would want to see in detail? Philip K. Dick wrote a novel called The World Jones Made, where the central character could look 1 year into the future. Turned out 1 year was no where near far enough, and we were all much more insignificant than we thought we were.
Frank Herbert's Dune books postulated a universe where prescience was the order of the day if you came from a certain family, and the descendents of said family spent their whole lives trying to break out of the prescient future they saw in front of them.
I'd love to know next weeks lottery numbers, but would you really want to know EVERYTHING that was about to happen before it happened? Would you like to live in a 'waking dream' kind of world?
I used to do the unwrapping thing myself. Now, I just like to wait and be surprised!
I guess you could say anticipation is the spice of life; and how wonderful that it is like that.
I remember performing a short story for a university show we did. It was about a man who was delivered every evening a newspaper for the next day. He earned a fortune and became a well-known personality, got engaged to a leading light of the time. The whole thing is narrated the evening before his wedding and anticipation and tension was high. Then the newspaper came and the heading said all:
City magnate found dead on morning of wedding.
I've always found that mystery and surprise is worth it. Much better than knowing too much ahead of time. I rarely looked for presents when I was little; the most I'd do is try to guess from the shape and how they sounded when you shook them. Letting yourself be surprised makes so many things more enjoyable.
Of course, there's a difference between that and being uprepared, considering the unexpected isn't always pleasant. That's one of the most important things we learn in Tai Chi; being grounded, stable, prepared, alert is very important; but it doesn't have to mean that we lose the love of mystery and delight.
I love how you describe yourself as living in bright color...:-)
The only thing that kept me from opening my presents early was the absolute certainty that my mother would have *killed* me if she'd found out. And she had a sixth sense of sorts...
Yes, I agree - life is full of grand possibilities! And living in bright colours makes it all more enjoyable.
Great post! I, too, am into a lot of colors these days.
khambagirl
www.yakattack.typepad.com
lovely post!! so good to remember that without the mystery and surprise--life would be too boring and predictable.
Happy Monday morning to you all!! Thanks for your great comments :))
I never wanted to find my Christmas presents as a kid - I loved the anticipation and the surprise way too much. It's good to see that you've learned to appreciate that - it really makes life so rich and exciting when you enjoy not knowing what could be around the corner...
"I already new the outcome."
----------
Anticipation killer...
Good for you!
Life is so much better with mysteries!
Post a Comment