Shining Thru

Life is full of new experiences, some of them are planned out for days, weeks, months, sometimes even years.  Sometimes it seems like you wait forever to try something that you have always had your eye on, and then other times, something new can catch you by complete surprise.  Sometimes it’s a good thing, but it can be bad, or at least uncomfortable…other times it is fun, new and exciting.  The thing about surprises, is that you never know until it happens if you’ll get a positive or negative outcome….or sometimes neutral.

It’s funny how new experiences can spring themselves on you, while others you have to fight and work hard for.  It could be something as natural as falling in love, something that you have no control over at all….or it could be stumbling upon an academic program and going back to school.  Or maybe you worked hard to gain access to the academic program of your choice, just to find out at the last minute you missed one of the qualifications listed, so you had to settle for second best.

Sometimes surprises can come at the most inconvenient time, while other times, they hit you at just the right moment and throw you for a huge pick-me-up that you’ve been waiting for.  Sometimes a new experience can open your eyes to a whole new perspective on the world, a whole new set of things that you never knew existed.  Sometimes experiencing something one time can be all you need to find the freedom to enter the whole world and continue to take it up a step each time you go through the door.  Sometimes a crack in the door is the only invitation that you need in order to join the playing field.

It’s the pleasant little surprises, getting an invitation, feeling loved, some little nice, sweet gesture that just came out of no where that really just make you feel good and help you to let go of all of those unwanted feelings that have been clinging on because of the happenings that life brings to your door.

Sometimes surprises are not so good, but the ones that come up naturally from a loved one seem to really improve on any situation.  The smallest of sweet gestures can make you really take a deep breath and just enjoy an evening, or bring a smile to your lips every time you think about it.

Sometimes just know you are loved is enough, and other times it’s the little surprises that just remind you that life can be good and there is such a thing as happiness…and most importantly, that happiness is not  out of your reach and it is not too good for you…

Doesn’t it always seem like when you give up on surprises that they appear out of nowhere.  Just when you thought that spring was on the way, the whole deep south of the United States gets blanketed in snow…and Vancouver is hauling in snow for the winter Olympics with highs of 62 degrees.  Funny how things work out.

Or the surprise ending of a book that comes at the last possible second when you thought that things had already concluded and the author was just trying to wind everything down and throw in a few more conclusions that you already realized yourself….and then all of the sudden they throw something else out there that you didn’t think was even possible to make happen with only the couple of pages left in the book…but they do it, and it turns out to be logical….brave strategy, people like me end up with mixed feelings about how the book ended, not appreciating the surprise, but knowing that it makes perfectly logical sense for the whole storyline.

Movies do it to…all the time, especially by writers and directors that want to set everyone up for a sequel if things go well with the first one at the box office.

There are all sorts of surprises….how do you feel about them?  I know some people that hate them, I know some people who have mixed feelings about them, and others who love them and I mean love them…the best thing in the world for them is a surprise birthday party or a gift for no reason.

You never know what life will bring

What will come around the corner

What you may encounter next

What kind of reactions people will have

Who you will have to deal with and why

Will it be good news or bad news?

Will the dog lick you or bite you?

Will the storm be a show of majestic power or death and destruction?

Will someone stick by you or walk away?

Will things be easy or hard?

I guess it doesn’t matter as long as you take every day as it comes and get through everything that life throws at you.  Sitting alone at night thinking about where life has brought you can sometimes lead to your mind wandering into places that you never expected.  Coming back to dwell on thoughts of comfort and love…..