Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Expect nothing. Live frugally on surprise.

Alice Walker, artist, author, born on
this date, 1944, in Eatonton, Georgia


In a way, to “expect nothing” is to expect Everything. And in a way, expecting nothing or everything is about being Free. Free to live completely. Not to be trapped or limited in the experience of Life. Free to be content with what we have. Understanding that most of the things we think we need to be happy we don’t. Free from envy. Free from a sense of deprivation. Open to the delight of surprises that come our way. Able to see what wonder and joy come to us from simple things.

A metaphor of this for me are birds. Seeing the Mew Gull on Morro Strand on a sunny Central Coast morning, or the Hutton’s Vireo that lives in the lemon tree outside my kitchen window. When I go birding, I may see nothing, or I may be wonderfully surprised. But I go open to whatever.

I would say that this is true about “God” – at least the God I relate to. “God” is the utter abundance of being alive. Once I learned that my spirit can be filled to overflowing by frugality, I was free. And content.

Expect nothing, or everything. But expect. It is amazing what can bring Peace and Joy.

Brian+