[blockquote source=”Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche”]”Don’t burden others with your expectations. Understanding their limitations can inspire compassion instead of disappointment, ensuring beneficial and workable relationships. Remember that you have only a short time together. Be grateful for each day you share”.[/blockquote]

I love to read.

Every morning, and when I first wake up—I dust off an old book, and sift through the pages waiting for inspiration to find me.

I’m a terrible book owner, by the way. My collection is well worn with pages bent, and notes scribbled along every open margin. I used to feel badly over ‘tarnishing’ those pages—until one day I realized, that’s what books are for.

Books should be well worn, and ravaged with every ounce of our being—with covers torn nearly all the way through. And each page should carry the faint scent of well-traveled, from this sleepy town to all points around the world.

And in my books this morning, and between two dog-eared pages, I found this most beautiful quote from Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche—spiritual leader, and teacher of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Vajrayana.

I had scribbled it down some many years before, this reminder that frustration is generally born out of the rigidity of our own expectation.

We expect one thing, and yet life…delivers us another. And, that little gap can send our minds spinning.

Sound familiar?

My dears, I can tell you from my own personal experience that I, too, have stumbled awkwardly along this pitted path of supposition. And, sometimes in our ‘looking back’ we wonder – was it even the ‘right’ path, after all?

But, what if – if only just for a moment – we might loosen expectation’s hold? To let those pieces scatter where they will, and trust that everything will be ok?

To release the energy of worry, and focus in on that which matters most of all;

The serenity of our very own spirit.

More specifically, to express gratitude for time spent together and sharing…knowing, that these moments are often too quickly passing.

And so, this is how inspiration found me today—in the margins of an dusty old book, one that I had carried for years, and with still just a bit of story left to tell.

My dears, when we’re able to act without expectation, you’ll find – that everything falls so brilliantly into place.

Much love, and namaste.