Surprises

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Surprises are unexpected or astonishing events, facts or things... And while sometimes the timing of the surprise may not be totally unexpected ~ for instance in case of a surprise birthday party ~ the event in and of itself is still unanticipated.

The term ‘surprise’ doesn’t really give any indication whether the unforeseen event is pleasant or not. So, from that perspective there can be both truly exciting surprises ~ happy things that happen to you ~ as well as unpleasant, or even nasty surprises. Yet, in my thinking the word surprise is positive! More related to its positive aspects than it is to its negative connotations. The latter I tend to describe more as ‘sudden unexpected events’.
Same meaning, different word, different connotation.

It is funny how language can work that way...

As far as surprises go ~ life is full of surprises!
Unanticipated things that are suddenly right there... Like a sunny day while the weather forecast had been dismal. Or walking into the supermarket and discovering that the item you really need is on sale. Or even an event you signed up for being organized in a way that can be much more beneficial than you originally thought.
Examples are plentiful on the unexpected things that may be coming your way in every day life. From the very mundane ~ like the price of gas having dropped a nickel ~ to the very esoteric.

If this is so ~ then why don’t we feel that excitement of the surprise more often?

Somehow we may have lost our sense of wonder ~ our open approach to life as it comes our way. We ‘hope for the best and expect the worst’. It seems to be a safe attitude to live our lives with as it allows for good things to become part of our lives, yet will prevent us from being caught unaware if something bad might come our way instead.
Inherent in that attitude is that we often put a label, or even a value to an event ~ sometimes even before it happens we have projected how much fun it possible can be, or worst case, what the ramifications of the event might be ~ both immediately as well as in the long run. And if none of those labels turn out to be true ~ it really is surprising (!) ~ but it may give us an uneasy feeling of being slightly out of control...

To experience the world around us as it is ~ filled with surprises ~ it would be good to re-cultivate our sense of wonder; our openness to life...
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