AUTHENTICS: Life Skills by Conscious Design
#7: “Appreciation vs. Expectation” by Sapphire Grace
We meet, we fall in love and our appreciation for the other person knows no bounds. They are intelligent, kind, successful, generous, punctual, funny and to us, they can do no wrong. We love all the same things: walks on the beach, long dinners, sleeping in, working out. We even share the same politics and spiritual beliefs. We are amazed by their sensitivity to family members, children, pets, and humanity. Their jokes keep us in stitches. Their efforts to save a fallen baby sparrow brings tears to our eyes. We love the very look of them; we even love their smell. We brag about them. We count on them. We have found safe harbor to be ourselves.
Before long expectation surfaces and we begin to feel more critical of them. We decide their intelligence may not extend much beyond their chosen profession. They lack common sense. They are on the computer too much and at the office too often. Their sensitivity seems codependent. Returning from the gym smells a bit ripe. They tell the same joke over and over. Their generosity has sexual strings. Flushing a half-dead goldfish down the drain seems thoughtless. Plus, they don’t spend nearly as much time as they used to looking good for us. The safe harbor begins to feel like dry dock.
Any time we are out-of-sorts with someone it is generally because we have lost our original appreciation of them and allowed our expectation to take over. The ten times they were right on time is replaced with disappointment the one time they are late because it is our birthday. Their jokes are corny, or off-color, or too personal. The admiration of a toned body fades into piles of smelly laundry. This safe harbor needs dredging.
To learn more about the art and science of
AUTHENTICS: Life Skills by Conscious Design
BLUE WATERS SPEAK TO ME, a new book due in late November/early December
by author, artist and spiritual activist, Sapphire Grace,
please continue to visit www.EarthAngelPublishing.com or
www.HubPages/Hub/AUTHENTICS #7: Appreciation vs. Expectation