We seem to spend alot of our lives in expectation – expecting the worst, expecting the best, expecting the future we have always dreamed of , expecting success and expecting all manner of things.

What is of more concern is that when we do actually achieve these things we realise that they haven’t brought with them the happiness, sense of satisfaction, the meaning and the purpose we expected that they would.

When we live our lives in a state of constant expectancy we miss the adventure and mystery of the unknown. We are scared to act spontaneously in case we get it wrong. The reality is that there is no right or wrong only choices, actions and consequences.

If we live our lives thinking about what might happen in the future we are not living. We delay living in the hope that a dreamed of future when it arrives will allow us to live. In this mind-set even when such a future does arrive it doesn’t provide us with the “fix” that we had hoped for because there is no surprise in it.

Much of what drives our daily lives is predicated around self-protection. We yearn for constant security which of course is unattainable because life is always changing and we have little or no control over that change.

That old feeling of “Groundhog Day” is never far from us because we avoid appreciating what is right in front of us. When was the last time you were actually present in the moment when eating, drinking, walking, sitting or doing any number of the usual mindless acts we perform every day?

As a little experiment the next time you sit down to a meal try to focus solely to the exclusion of everything else on the taste and feel of the food. I can guarantee that eating will become a totally new experience for you!

It is this present moment focus on what we are doing that changes our experience of life. The colours become richer, sounds become more vibrant, textures become more apparent.

Life is for living now! Its all about quality and not quantity. We have become so single-minded about protecting and extending our lives through fear of loss and death that we simply don’t live!

The sooner we accept that death is just an integral part of life and can happen at any moment the sooner we can start to be happy and appreciate our lives in the moment.

Who knows with any certainty what tomorrow will bring? Let it be a surprise and be okay with whatever happens.