I would love to live like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.

Our expectations frame our view of what is to come. Too often that frame is distorted by preoccupations with where we have been, like trying to walk forward while staring back over your shoulder.

Be careful what you water your dreams with. Water them with worry and fear and you will produce weeds that choke life.

We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are.

What you see depends on what you’re looking for.

If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain how he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and could be.

Dashed expectations can be good for the soul. After all, always getting what we expect often leads to expecting to always get what we want.

My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus.

Anyone who loves in the expectation of being loved in return is wasting their time.

As we release the hold of expectations and disappointments, as we stop trying to live into the imagined life and live the one we have been given, we discover a profound inner freedom to make choices out of love, rather than obligation or resentment.

What will mess you up most in life is the picture in your head of how it’s supposed to be.

When we put down ideas of what life should be like, we are free to wholeheartedly say yes to our life as it is.