Anticipate Tomorrow

A while ago I had a lovely little client who was in her first year at primary school. When we finished up I asked her what she had on at school the next day. She looked at me as if I was mad, so I offered some suggestions – maybe she had reading, or numbers or sport. Again she looked at me in bemusement before saying, “Oh I don’t know. Every day is a surprise to me!”

Now maybe her teacher who spends hours planning her lessons would not have been overly impressed to hear that, but I thought what a wonderful way to live. 

For most of us life is so complicated that a lot of time is spent continually devising and revising our ‘to do’ lists. As we race around, checking off kids’ activities, completing work lists and meeting partner’s needs surely the last thing we need is to be surprised by something un-planned for.

But what if our lives are so over- agenda ridden that we are missing the subtle and gentle nudges of the universe to respond to its energy. Imagine what life would feel like if we waited with anticipation to see what tomorrow brings rather than dread that we won’t get through the workload. What if every so often we let a day surprise us?

Once when my daughter was about 10 she and I set off for a road trip without any plans as to where we were heading or where we would sleep that night. She was flabbergasted at first and took a while to relax but then she announced, “We must be on an adventure.”  Surprise, adventure, anticipation – we don't have to leave them behind in childhood.