"May your every wish be granted." Sounds great doesn't it? In actuality this is an old Chinese curse.
For many years some of us were fond of saying, "I wish I were (you fill in the age)." I wish I were six so I could go to school. I wish I were 16 so I could drive. I wish I were in college. I wish I were married. I wish I had kids. I wish the kids would grow up and go to college. I wish I weren't married. I wish I could retire. I wish...I could start over. Every time my dad heard me say "I wish...", he would say, "Wish, wish, wish your life away." To my regret I did a lot of that. Now I'm old enough to understand my father's words! Gosh, it goes fast!
Have you ever said, "I wish he'd change." What if he did? What might happen? I have a friend who used to say that all the time-she's no longer married. We need to be very careful what we wish for-we might get it!
To have our every wish granted could, indeed, be a very vicious curse. We can't see into the future - not even into the next moment. What may be desirable this month may be horrible next month...like Christmas bills.
Think about the last time you heard someone say, "I wish I had never been born." Ding! You are gone and everyone you've ever touched is NOT touched. Every positive influence you've ever made is wiped away. I am reminded of one of my favorite old movies, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, with Jimmy Stewart. If you haven't watched it in awhile, please do so and begin to appreciate how many lives you've touched in a positive way.
I wish for you: healthy expectations, that you be more effective and less affected, the understanding that when we get too "high," there is only one place to go-down, healthy reality thinking, that you never "should" on yourself or others, that you trade in any perfectionistic thinking, that you decide to be a victor rather than a victim and be open to receiving as well as giving. (Review lesson 4)
Assignment: This month let's practice having NO expectations of others. This includes: how they act, how they treat you, what they do or don't do or say. I'm not talking about low hopes...I'm talking about unrealistic expectations. I'm not suggesting that we do nothing when confronted with bad/disrespectful behavior. I'm talking about letting go of expecting. Let me know how you do.
Happy Valentines Day,
Carolyn
"Happiness is to be found along the way, not at the end of the road, for then the journey is over and it is too late. Today, this hour, this minute is the day, the hour, the minute for each of us to sense the fact that life is good, with all of its trials and troubles, and perhaps more interesting because of them."
Robert Updegraft in LIFE WITHOUT LIMITS (the book)
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