The unexpected gift of expectations

Many experiences provide quite unexpected opportunities for us to look within. I was reminded of this earlier this year when I had the opportunity to revisit Stonehenge. I was sure my journey there would be special – that the stones would share their secrets with me. But I was surprised that the secrets that I found were about myself. Perhaps this story can help your path and expectations reflect light on your inner self too.

As I sat in the large grassy field surrounding the standing stones at Stonehenge, I expected amazing realisations – an inner knowing of how these exceedingly large stones had been moved so far in ancient times, or an exact understanding of why they had been placed here. My desire to know their past reflected the common human need to feel special, it’s part of self-love to understand ourselves as unique. This often manifests as a need for external signs - like me wanting to be able to engage with the stones to learn facts that the historians and archaeologists haven’t yet unearthed, that I alone would know.

But expectations are related to wanting to know the future, and are often quite wrong. Instead, I connected with the stones in the here and now; in this field ringed by people, who are in turn ringed by the sheep for whom this sacred land is their daily experience. I experienced the stones as simply doing exactly what they’re mean to be doing, no matter who’s taking selfies with them, or what the weather is around them, or whether there’s a druidic ritual taking place amongst them. They are as perfect now as they have always been.

And so, I reconnected with the inner knowing that I too am just here, being myself, doing exactly what I am meant to be doing – equally perfect and sacred. And I laughed gently at myself for believing I needed to know the stones’ history to see this in myself and thanked them for showing me the truth of this moment.

I invite you to consider where your path has enabled moments of self-reflection about understanding of the true nature of things, perhaps when you least expected it.