You know I had an experience the other day that made me think about how much our anticipation can affect us. Now admittedly this ties in a little with anxiety as well and if you would like another perspective on that you can read it HERE. So I woke up this morning and immediately began to worry about a problem I had in my clinic. It wasn’t anything that would bring about the end of the world but it was something that got under my skin. I went off to the gym with the hope that some exercise would burn it up but unfortunately it was one of those days and it started to grow.
The problem with this scenario was effectively that I had begun to anticipate the worse case scenario. Fortunately breakfast with my lovely partner and small cat who loves eggs distracted me for a time.
I headed off to work and felt this nagging feeling inside which resulted in me trawling through everything that was wrong with my practice. Who was I really kidding? Was I really any good anyway? What’s the point? I’m sure many of you can relate to this. Add a couple of no shows and this just put the whole motion of the day into a downward spiral all based on my initial anticipation of an issue going in a negative direction. One thought started all of this.
Let’s imagine I woke up the same morning and thought of the same issue but decided to hand it up to the gods and goddesses for a while to manage for me because the world won’t end over this. Went off to the gym and got into the zone. The no shows became an opportunity to do some additional planning whilst still getting paid. Yes, I have a cancellation fee. If clients don’t show up or cancel less than 24 hours they are charged full fee. So I was getting paid to do something else. Not a bad outcome
Exactly the same situation but a change in the anticipation from negative to everything will work out ok.
Now I have found myself with large slabs of time being damned hard work due to having a negative anticipation of an outcome and I have also recognised that this is a choice. Not always an easy choice dependent on your patterns but definitely a simple one.
Try to be aware when you begin to fall into the trap of negative anticipation as your practice will likely flounder. Everyday lift your head and look to the horizon first thing. See the brightness of the sun and your potential.
