A Mind-Blowing Trick for More Wonder (No Drugs Required)

This past Sunday, a friend asked me if I was free at a time I would normally be curled up with a piece of bubblegum fiction in my reading chair sipping a concoction of dried leaves before going to bed at the crazy-wild hour of 10 p.m.

When I said I had no concreate plans, he asked if I wanted to, and I quote, "go on an adventure."

With a proposal like that, how could I refuse?

The only question I asked was if said adventure would be indoors so I could dress accordingly.

It should be noted that this is very much NOT like me. I'm one of those Lisa Frank sticker collectors who grew up to carry her planner with her like a religious missionary proselytizing the virtues of pen-and-paper calendars. I like to know what's going to happen and when.

And acting as if looking at my planner is the same as staring into a crystal ball, I often set expectations for what's to come. High expectations.

This time, though, I threw my grandmacore planner out the window (figuratively, obviously--I don't litter) and decided to just enjoy the heated-seat ride to wherever the heck it was we were going.

Which, it turns out, was the Ogden Theater in Denver.

Now I knew we were seeing live music. And one would think I'd sneak a peak at the marquee to finally be "in the know." But by some strange, happy accident, I was so busy digging for my ID (bless those doormen for making me still feel young enough to be carded) that I completely missed it.

Inside, I saw only the floor-to-ceiling initials MW taking up the background. I racked my brain on potential musicians, only to come up with nada.

As the band took the stage, the DJ played "Hells Bells" by AC/DC, at which point I was convinced my friend had brought me to a heavy-metal cover band show that was going to transport me right back to my college iPod shuffle's running playlist.

But then the singer belted out a raspy country ballad in a voice I was sure I knew. Except I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

FINALLY, two songs into the show I turned to my friend and asked, "Who is this?"

When he told me it was Morgan Wade, a singer-songwriter I adore, I literally squealed with delight.

It's Thursday, and I'm still talking about how incredible this experience was.

And only half of that is because of her insane talent (seriously, she is PHENOMENAL—go give her a listen).

The other it was so resonate is that I had ZERO expectations. 

Had I known I was going to see Morgan Wade, I would have started to expect it to be a certain way: specific songs I wanted to hear, how good she would be live versus her records, what sort of clothes I thought she'd be wearing, etc., etc.

Instead, I simply got to experience pure wonder.

In the yoga class I taught this morning I talked about this adventure being an experience of beginner's mind. The opportunity to set aside preconceived notions, beliefs, and expectations and simply experience what is happening as it is happening.

Of course, this goes completely against our biology.

Our brains, bless their overachieving little circuits, are prediction machines. Evolution wired us to take past experiences, slap a “future” label on them, and assume we know what’s coming—because, once upon a time, that skill kept us from becoming lunch.

But in our modern world, where saber-toothed tigers are in short supply, this hardwired habit often backfires, making us prisoners of expectation rather than adventurers of the present moment.

As we transitioned into svasana, I left my fellow yogis with a question to ponder, and it's the same one I'll leave you with here:

Where in your life can you liberate yourself from the prison of expectation and free yourself to experience the moment exactly as it is right now?

With Fierce Love,

Chazz

P.S.

I'm going to be launching my first group program in over a year and half and it's all about lowering our expectations (and all the life coaches of the internet simultaneously gasp in horror) to create more wonder—stay tuned for details!