Surprise!

“…this is more about our life plans and how we make them…but if we’re really honest with ourselves, many of our plans don’t work out as we hoped…so instead of asking what are my plans for the future maybe we should tell ourselves, plan to be surprised.”


The above paraphrased quote was from a movie “Dan in Real Life”. Our character Dan was talking about life plans and how they don’t work out as we had thought we wanted.

How many times have you made plans only to find out that what actually happened wasn’t anything that you had expected? I think one of the great paradoxes of life is that we make plans with the best of our intentions, yet life has a way of showing up and giving us something different. We find ourselves asking “how did I get here?” I know that in the last couple of months, I have asked myself that very question. Sitting in the space of “what the heck happened?” you have two choices, either to react or act.

Reacting, in my opinion, is focusing on what didn’t happen instead of being in the present moment to what life wants you to experience. We stay in resistance to what is in front of us and rack our brains by going over and over, step by step, what we could or should have done differently. Reacting gives us an opportunity to point the finger and blame other people, places and things for the circumstances that now exist. It also keeps us stuck in the past unable to let go, accept what is and move forward. Resentment starts to build up keeping us closed off to seeing new opportunities and possibilities.

Choosing to act is another term for taking action. When we decide to take action, we see things as they are, not how we wanted or expected them to be. Instead of focusing on what went “wrong”, we learn to find the lessons by uncovering, integrating and accepting ourselves and how our choices and free will contributed to the experience. We sit in acceptance, chalk it up to “life happens” and take away the gifts, moving forward ready and willing to see something new. We go with the flow instead of padding desperately upstream.

I am a firm believer that the Universe has greatness planned for all of us. Part of that greatness lies in how we act or react to the surprises that show up in our life. So next time you find yourself surprised or when your life show’s up in the middle of your best laid plans, will you act or react?

And when you are sitting in the place of “what happened here?”, always remember what John Lennon said “life is what happens to us while we’re busy making other plans”.

Wishing you a week full of surprises!







Boo!