Go with the Flow.....

  I was driving around in Houston today, windows down, 80 degrees, Christmas lights starting to erupt all over the place, and Christmas music playing on the radio....so strange this picture is to me still!  I haven't had a traditional Chicago Christmas since around age 22, and since then I've lived in much warmer climates, however, the idea of warm weather and Christmas remains foreign to me.   Some ask if it's disappointing to me, and I wouldn't exactly say that, but it makes me think...
  We have visions or ideas about things in our head of things like Christmas,  and how they should appear to get our approval.  These preconceived notions are really just expectations in disguise.  For a little while, I was grateful to be able to head north over the exact holiday so that I could experience the sometimes white and always cold (of varying degrees of course:-) holidays in Chicago.  I thought it's just not the holidays without that Chicago atmosphere.  Now, I will say that over the years, I've been able to see that the holiday is not in the place, the temperature or the decorations, but it's felt with the people you love and the feeling in your heart.  Getting rid of that expectation of Christmas, allowed me to enjoy it in a completely different way, and it is great! I have to say it's REALLY nice not freezing my buns off in December!! It's fun to actually take a nice coffee and a walk under the Christmas lights instead of a drive because it's too cold!! Going with the flow allows me to really take in the feelings regardless of the surroundings....
  This idea can be transferred to just about anything in life.  If you have an expectation of how a career, car, house, family, friends etc should be based on past experience, then you aren't really open to enjoying the differences in your current situation or the potential happiness they might bring to you. Open your heart. Look for the things you enjoy instead of the things you don't like. Appreciate what you have, instead of dwelling on what you don't.  It's not good, nor is it bad, it just is....Go with the flow!

Wishing you all a Wonderful holidays...no matter how you'll be experiencing them!!
Jess