Many greetings, Dear Ones!

Just a quick bloggety blog post for you to nibble on today. We think the topic of what people expect from themselves would be rich ground. As we often say, setting your expectations lower can lead to more experience of success, but do you even know what that means?

We understand that many people are evaluating their life choices and intentions and dreams right now. So many of you may be feeling confused or disappointed or bereft. Fear not, remember the maxim “Don’t Believe Everything You Think”!

Just because you had some ideas about how your life would be going right about now doesn’t mean you were correct. It also doesn’t mean your life is not going that way. It may mean you don’t recognize what your being-self has done with your dreaming-self’s or thinking-self’s ideas. Sometimes the being-self runs off in another direction.

Imagine a recipe. You lay out the ingredients and you believe that anyone with half a brain would take the flour and butter and other things and make a pie. Or biscuits. Or a cake. Or whatever you had in mind. But your being self might have only understood the ingredients part. They might have taken the eggs out to boil softly, to go with the crusty twists of cinnamon sugar dough they made. They might not have felt a cake was the thing to make, but everything you asked for and laid out in good faith is there somewhere.

If you wanted a life that included certain elements, like a job you loved, or creativity, or security, and you feel you do not have it (or perhaps you feel you had it and lost it), then we invite you to check the ingredients and where the recipe originated. We believe you will find that all the elements are there, and it is your perspective that could use a bit of rearranging. If in fact things are missing, maybe check under the table, where something might have fallen and not been noticed. Maybe it is time to scoop it out now and put it to use.

We think you will find, upon investigation, that you have what you need in your life, even if it is not shaped or combined the way you expected. We think you will find that your ingredients exist, although the method of preparation and the form they take might be different than the image in your head. Please be advised this is not Failure. Or, all of it is Failure, depending on your view. (Side note: Failure is not a Problem.)

If you look around and identify where the ingredients you laid out for your life have been incorporated, a couple of things begin to happen. First, you realize it’s all there and has been all along, but you didn’t recognize it. This is The Folly of Expectations. This is the obstruction of expectations, that you cannot see the beauty and power in exactly what you have wrought, here and now.

That job you love? Oh, maybe it’s not the paying job. Maybe it is the job of being a certain kind of friend, or parent, or partner. That creativity? Is it not there, just because you forgot to have an art studio? Or is it in the twists you put on the presentation of a meal, the flair with which you wrap a present, the colors you choose to clothe yourself, the flower that grows in your garden?

Security? That does not and has never meant that nothing ever changes. Security means that you trust yourself and those around you (to some extent) to be resilient and to have developed resources which you can call on when things get difficult, which is to say, any time things change. Which is all the time. Especially now.

The second thing is that, as you recognize that what you have longed for is actually in your grasp, you grow more confident and active to pursue other forms of experience. Maybe you have always wanted to try scones.

Maybe you have noticed that you are curious enough and thoughtful enough in your life to have these things. To have evidence of traces of the ingredients you laid out for building your life. Look, what is that? More ingredients? More of the original ingredients, more ingredients that have become available or come into your awareness over time. Skills you have developed in times of need or leisure. Everything comes in handy. Nothing is wasted, nothing is lost.

Please understand that whatever shape your life is taking currently, the elements of your dreams and desires run through it. The ingredients are incorporated. Your life is available to nourish you, just as it is, regardless of the shape or scope or crumbles. Love what you have now and prepare to carry it through to tomorrow, fresh for a new day.