Learning to Live

The world would be such a different place if there were no expectations. There would be so much less disappointment. When you think about it, most disappointment stems from some sort of expectation. We wouldn’t fail because we couldn’t expect something to be better than reality. I know that this is fairly negative thinking and there is a completely different side to the idea of expectations but I challenge you to look at things in a different light. Imagine life as a child who knows nothing, expects nothing of the world. They live their lives in constant wonder. Life is a one big surprise to them. How cool is that? If we expect nothing from a day, then waking up is a miracle in itself. If you don’t expect anything, then every moment is a wonderful surprise and we can’t help but to be filled with joy. “Instead of filling with expectations, the joy-filled expect nothing and are filled.” If we learn to control how much we expect from the world, then every good thi...

This past weekend I heard a friend of mine say something that really stuck with me. She was talking about a previous relationship and made an excellent point when she said: "You have to learn how to be happy alone." Although this seems like something that should come naturally, we live in a society where we depend on others to be happy. We are constantly leaning on our relationships to make sure we are happy. A specific example of this is how we seem to think that we need to find that one person that will complete us and fulfill our dreams of living happily ever after. And some people are in too much of a hurry to find this person that they reach out to anyone who will throw them a bone. I'm not saying this is wrong, but it's hard to be completely happy with that one person if you don't know how to be happy just being you and doing your own thing. It seems simple, but we get caught up in life and forget about how important it is to find our own happiness. We c...

As we go through life it’s easy to get caught up in overthinking everything and making assumptions about virtually every situation we find ourselves in.   Overthinking and making assumptions can lead to unnecessary worrying. If we look at the facts and accept them for what they are, we can reduce our stress and focus on living in the now. Unfortunately, it is human nature to wonder and worry. However it does help to be aware of how often we overthink. When we force ourselves to look at the facts we are reminded that the situations we find ourselves in are often not as bad as they first appear—it’s all in our head.     As easy it is to get caught up in the situations we make up in our head, we must remind ourselves to live in the present and focus on what we know and not what we think we know.   Looking at the facts is an essential part of living in the now and accepting life as it is.