Equanimity

 

“If you think that people should be nice to one another, then by all means be nice. But when you project that belief onto the people and the world around you as if it were an objective reality, or worse still, as if it were their job to be nice to you, you put yourself at odds with what is, and suffering will surely follow.”
— Adyashanti

 

So much of my frustration in life comes from expectations. I expect people to act a certain way and when they don’t I feel cheated. Sometimes it is an anticipation towards what I believe is going to happen. As much as I may want it to, life does not always answer the call. Usually that turns out to be a good thing. Life and other people have the endless capacity to surprise in pleasant way. It also has an equal capacity to disappoint. The more I can face both with equanimity the more I find myself at peace.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Creature that Stills the StormSpirit That Stills the Storm by G A Rosenberg

 

Crawling Through BlueCrawling Through the Blue by G A Rosenberg

 

Pattern Lost in the RainPattern Lost in the Rain by G A Rosenberg

 

Road Tales

 

“Between the person I want to be and the person I am supposed to become I find that I am trapped in between the perfect expectation and the ultimate disappointment and that makes me lose the only person I have at the moment, myself.”
— VàZaki Nada

 

I am the road that I travel
my history engraved on sign posts
and my future somewhere miles beyond
the setting sun
Many are the exits I have passed
leading both to dead ends
and thriving cities.
My road is littered with graffiti
cast off songs and playbills
filled with magick sigils
I have enjoyed the company
of many others
who’s roads ran parallel for a time
than diverged widely.
Travel upon me for awhile
and experience a world like no other
Ride upon my road
and see what we both become.
— G A Rosenberg

 

Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Hunting the ChallengeHunting the Challenge by G A Rosenberg

 

58-AmyAmy (#58 in Goetia Series) by G A Rosenberg

Disappointment

 

“I’m going to break it down for you. Disappointment is when you expected something and got something else. It’s right there in the word. An appointment (expectation) you had was dissed. The appointment may have been with yourself or another person or even with an event. If you hadn’t had the expectation in the first place than the disappointment would not have happened. Not that disappointment is a bad thing. A lot of our expectations can be pretty dumb”
— Randall Wolfe

 

We all go through life expecting things. It seems we build a picture of the way things will be or should be and all too often we end up disappointed. When that happens we have two choices. we can enjoy the moment or we can wallow in the fact that we didn’t get what we wanted or expected. All too often it seems we choose to hold two snapshots in our head, what we wanted and what we got and spend hours comparing the two. It’s like we’re children who asked for a chocolate ice cream cone and got a rocky road one instead. We may love Rocky Road and the chocolaty goodness is still there but we expected chocolate. We spend so much time bemoaning the fact that the ice cream melts away and we never get a taste. How amazing it would be if we could bite into each moment and enjoy it for what it is even if it doesn’t match our expectations. Who knows it may end up tasting better than we ever imagined it could. The universe tends to do that.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

NaiadNaiad Bathing by G A Rosenberg

 

Crystallization in RedCrystallization in Red by G A Rosenberg

The Myth of Expectation

 

“It was a rainy night. It was the myth of a rainy night.”
― Jack Kerouac

 

We live in a world of myths and we try to keep up. There is the myth of romance and the myth of rain. We have the myth of Christmas and Family Get-togethers and holiday vacations. When most of us encounter any of these things, we have an idea in our heads built up of the past and media exposure and stories we’ve read and heard of exactly what they should be like and feel like. Yet how often are we disappointed when the reality does not live up to the archetypal image in our heads? It may actually be better, bigger and more wonderful yet how easy is it to get caught up in, “I thought it would be different.” Whenever I find myself expressing anything like the feeling of disappointment in those situations, I try very quickly to get past it.
The only thing that I can expect from a rainy night is that it will probably be wet and probably dark. The only thing I can expect from a travelling holiday is I will probably not be at home. After that its a matter of throwing out the maps and models and treat it as something new never encountered before. It is only then that I am truly experiencing it. Would we really want things to be exactly like they are in the brochure with no surprises? Where then is the chance to experience something wonderful that no one else ever has?
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized:

 

Cathedral Beneath the WavesCathedral Beneath the Waves by G A Rosenberg

 

Centering in a Star Shaped PoolCentring in a Star Shaped Pool by G A Rosenberg