NickVenturella.com 11-5-20 - Be grateful to expect the unexpected

Be grateful to expect the unexpected

November 05, 2020

So a presidential election is ongoing this week here in the US. Anything exciting happening in your neck of the woods?

If you are a US citizen with the right to vote, I do hope you voted to have your voice heard. For many I know, their candidate is currently winning, and others I respect and care about, I know their desired candidate is not winning.

Rather than further dividing people, I want to address the idea of moving beyond moments when life doesn’t pan out the way you expected.  It’s an idea that is useful for all.

We all experience things like this in life; moments when your career doesn’t move upward like you anticipated. Times when you hear a medical diagnosis for yourself or someone you love that you weren’t expecting. Challenges that seem to blindside us.

Why do these things blindside us?  Because they’re unexpected.

This is where having an attitude of gratitude and letting go of too many expectations for which you don’t have full control over can help you.

Now, I’m not suggesting you mask your feelings of disappointment, sadness, or even despair when life hands you lemons, but if you develop a daily gratitude practice and release yourself from expectations you can always make lemonade.

Why? Because the one thing you have the most control over is your mindset – what you think and how you react to how you feel is for you to decide.

You can either choose to let such events/moments negatively affect you and future decisions you make, or you can learn from them and constructively focus that energy into making more positive decisions that fuel your own mindset towards confidence, self-care, and kindness, which typically manifests itself into more empathy for others and overall more positive interactions with others...and life seems slightly easier to deal with.

I’m talking about taking 5 minutes on a daily basis to identifying (and write down) things that you’re thankful for in your life – things, big or small that are going well. By doing so, you’re more equipped to shorten the time you spend feeling those negative feelings. It helps you increase your capacity to refocus on how you can make a more positive difference (even if for no one else other than yourself) moving forward.

The only true expectation that you can manage is what you expect of yourself.

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UPDATESI've been having fun making some short, free guitar lessons on YouTube. You can check out the latest (Lesson #10) of my "Basic Guitar Lessons for Songwriters" series.------------ 

Stay positive. Stay healthy. Be kind.Sincerely,Nick VenturellaCreative Professional, andco-founder of Eleven Music Career CenterNickVenturella.comnickVmusic.netFacebookYouTubePatreon