Anticipation and Disappointment Part 4
February 18, 2026
Anticipation and Disappointment Part 4
Close your eyes and imagine standing at the edge of tomorrow. Can you feel it? That feeling in your stomach that something extraordinary is on its way, like we experienced as children on Christmas Eve. Or on this edge, we may feel dread … it may be a difficult conversation we must have, or the dread of putting down a loved pet. We spend so much of our lives headed into what is coming that we forget to be here now. Here’s a truth that sometimes alludes us: being absorbed in anticipation, whether it is of a party or a funeral to attend, can hijack this moment, the only one that exists.
We anticipate both positive and negative things, and these twin forces pull us in opposite directions, but both can remove us from the moment. When we anticipate joy, our minds are already at the party before we’ve left the house, while fantasies of what’s to happen become larger than life. But anticipating dread works differently. It circles us like wild animals. A creeping uneasiness hijacks the present entirely, dragging us into the middle of a disaster that hasn’t happened yet.
The remedy for these anticipations’ theft of the present moment is groundedness, which is that essential quality of being so rooted in reality that neither heights nor depths can steal you away from the present. Being grounded doesn’t mean becoming immune to joy or impervious to concern. You can still feel excited about good things to come and prepare wisely for the challenges ahead. What changes is that these anticipations no longer possess you. They are seen and acknowledged but never become the keystone to our lives.
In groundedness, something remarkable happens; you begin to see all possibilities as part of a larger weaving. The wonderful things you anticipate don’t inflate your sense of self or become proof of your worthiness. And the difficult things do not collapse you or define your life. You start to recognize what the mystics have always known: every joy carries the seed of its ending, and every hardship contains the possibility of transformation. You stop sorting experiences into “good” and “bad” and start seeing them as “what is.”
So how do we cultivate this groundedness? Five elements weave together: living in the present, being centered within, practicing self-affirmation, believing in a higher power’s support, and relying on the soul. Let’s look at each component of groundedness.
Living in the present means approaching each moment with genuine curiosity, showing up for what’s actually happening rather than what we wish were happening or fear might happen. Being centered within means organizing our life around something stable; for many, this is God; for others, a belief in the fundamental order of reality or commitment to core values.
Self-affirmation says “yes” to our existence without inflation or diminishment. Not “I’m better” or “I’m worse,” but “I am, and that is enough.” This includes self-compassion and knowing that we, too, are a valued child wrought into existence for our specific purpose.
Belief in a higher power reminds us that we are not carrying everything alone; there’s a larger intelligence at work that supports us by the laws that run the universe. And our role is to accept the support and pass it on.
Finally, reliance on the soul connects us to our deepest self, the essence that was planted in us at our making. When anchored to this depth, we become less controlled by anticipations and more interested in the real story: how the Divine expresses itself through our particular life, right in this moment.
Spiritual practice: Assess how you are doing in each of these five components of groundedness.
Self-inquiry: How do you know when anticipation is life-giving or life-consuming?
Prayer:
Dear God, I pray to be grounded in the moment and in the love that you created it for. Amen
