EXPECTATIONS

Remember how, in the beginning, we had such great expectations for certain things, only to discover later on that things were not like we thought?

Remember those terrible stresses? Here, again, most of us can identify with an old-faithful truth that warns, "Things are not always what they seem."

At one time or another, we've experienced dreadful headaches or heartaches from expectations gone wild. And the resulting stresses literally knocked us off our feet.

Once an obnoxious rich man bragged over the fact that he always drank "Kopi Luwak" -- world's rarest and most expensive coffee. This old man raved that Kopi Luwak coffee beans cost hundreds of dollars for a single pound of the exceptional-tasting coffee.

One day the rich tycoon was informed by a 45-year-career mechanic how the Kopi Luwak beans were processed. Interestingly enough, Indonesian cats eat the coffee beans and excrete them. The unique Kopi Luwak beans are then picked out of cats excrement.

Isn't that just like life? We, too, just like the rich man, have thought that we'd discovered the absolute grandest and the best -- all the while not having the slightest idea of the stinkin' truth.

So how do we chase those stresses away? One of the most profound things we can do is to do as the rich man did. When he found out the scoop about his beloved "Kopi Luwak," HE LAUGHED.

As many cups of cat-dung-confiscated coffee that he'd drunk, when the low-down dirty truth was exposed, he laughed and laughed.

Yeah . . . yeah . . . it sounds crazy, but sounding crazy is far better than actually being crazy. Sure, laughing at faulty expectations is easier said, than done. But laughter is a highly-proven stress reducer. So from now on, in situations where we're known to stress, LET'S LEARN TO LAUGH.


Peace I leave with you . . .