Sweet anticipation. Sunday January 29, 2012

As a kid, there's always something to look forward to.

Christmas, your birthday, the weekend, summer, winter, spring, autumn. A new bike.

Generally a kid's life is one big bubble of anticipation, tinged with the frustration that nothing ever comes as soon as you want it to.

But as the years pass by, it can sometimes seem that there's less to look forward to. Life may feel humdrum, with a distinct absence of carrots dangling at the end of the stick.

However perhaps there's a little, not unreasonable, trick that you can play on yourself.

Often we gain even more pleasure anticipating something than we do actually experiencing it.

So if it feels as though there are no big things to look forward to, actively anticipate the smaller.

When you're working, imagine how good it will feel when you down tools at the end of the day.

Going to speak to a friend over the next few days? Visualise how warming this will be.

Reading a good book at the moment? Start to anticipate the pleasure of getting stuck back into it before you actually do.

Even when you're not a kid, there's still always something to look forward to.

Sometimes, though, you just need to seek it out.

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