Anticipate, then Appreciate

The anticipation of something—an event or situation—is as tasty and delicious as the actual experience. Looking forward, if held with joy and excitement, is often a precursor to delight and may even exceed the event itself if you attach expectations to how it shouldlook once it arrives.

This isn’t to say not to imagine how it may turn out, but rather to detach and release the actual outcome to unfold in the present moment. Everything is now. The anticipation, held in joyful preparedness, is the now you are experiencing.

Be open to anything that may arise rather than planning it exactly. Disappointment comes when your actual experience varies from your desired thought projections and you are unwilling to allow the beautiful gift to unfold as it’s happening.

Anticipate, then appreciate; that is the key to a successful union.

Allow your day, your moment, your life to unfold as a bud does as it blooms. Imagine thinking you had the seed to a pink flower, yet when it bloomed it was red or multicolored. Would you berate it with disappointment that it wasn’t as planned—or would you be surprised and delighted?

As with all things, appreciate, and more will follow for you to appreciate fully. There are many flowers in life that die on the vine without the admiration of another simply because they weren’t as expected.

Children may disappoint a parent by not being exactly as imagined, yet each is a gift—beautiful exactly as they are. Their essence is not diminished, though the environment may not allow them to thrive.

Appreciation is not only a gift for you but also for those you hold in appreciation. Thrive and flourish by focusing on the components of anything you find worthy of appreciation.