Always expect the unexpected . . .

“We all think we’re going to be great and we feel a little bit robbed when our expectations aren’t met. But sometimes our expectations sell us short. Sometimes the expected simply pales in comparison to the unexpected. You got to wonder why we cling to our expectations, because the expected is just what keeps us steady. Standing. Still. The expected's just the beginning, the unexpected is what changes our lives.” Shonda Rhimes


And that is something I always hold on to.

Expecting the unexpected and not placing expectations upon things because it can change the way they are, the way they can be.  And I hold onto it because it is most often the things that we do not expect which do change our lives.  And, those unexpected things can often be so much better, simply because they are free from expectation, because they do not have the pressure of expectations. Instead they can simply "be" as they are.  As they are meant to be. Happen as and how they are meant to happen. 

It does not mean that something which happens unexpectedly doesn't take us by surprise, for goodness it sure can do, we can still be knocked sideways by the curve ball thrown in our direction, or have the wind taken out of our sails.

But there can be something quite special, quite wonderful when something so unexpected happens that it comes with a whole host of potential and possibilities.  Quite unexpectedly, it comes from nowhere, but has a potential to go beyond what we may even have perhaps even dared to hope for.

Life, we can never really plan.

We can never know what, or who, maybe just around the corner.  People often say that they meet someone when they are least expecting it - is it because that meeting comes with no pre-existing expectations? That they are, with their hearts and minds completely open to whatever may happen . . .that it can then happen as it is meant to?

Life, inevitably throws us curve balls, times when circumstances are a reminder to expect the unexpected, yet these curve balls, these unexpected moments can also be quite beautiful, as they unfold and show themselves. They can be moments where it can quite literally take your breath away, leaving you amazed or taken aback at what feelings, emotions or hopes that it may bring.

In the words of Paulo Coelho “You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.”  So yes, maybe it is about being open, opening yourself to allow those unexpected moments to happen, and maybe it is about taking a risk for it to truly do so.

The expected is just the beginning. It is indeed, the unexpected that changes our lives.