Dear Seeker,

"Whenever we face an unwanted event and find ourselves feeling nothing but resistance, we can discover that this stress-mess is made from our insistence that this should not have happened."

~ Guy Finley

Excerpted from "Let Go and Live in the Now" (p. 161)

Special exercise: Unexpect the expected

The only problem when life doesn't go as planned is the expectation that it should have unfolded differently. Disappointment only exists when you're comparing what's happening (reality) to what you want (imagination) and the two don't match. I was once given the advice, as I nervously watched a professional tennis match involving my favorite player, to try watching the game that was being played instead of "watching" my hopes of how I wanted the match to turn out. This idea of "unexpecting the expected" can be applied across the board, both in what we do and don't want to happen -- with relationships, health issues, etc. The key, however, is not in trying to change how we feel, after the fact, when we react negatively to what happens -- but in working to be in the present moment where it's impossible for expectations to exist.