Gate 35

It's Thursday, June 4th...and line 4(hunger) of Gate 35: Gate of Change/Progress...the secret of which is 'No Expectation.'

What does that mean? Not to have any expectations regarding...what, exactly? Isn't it okay to sometimes have expectations - like expecting night to turn to day, etc.?

My most recent example (funny how this works with line 4: hunger) was last night. Stacie came over for a visit and excitedly shared her new book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine by Rosalee de la Forêt & Emily Han. I was making tea as she read aloud from the pages - and stopped when she squealed aloud with glee with this recipe: asparagus and nettle soup!

A cursory glance of the ingredients and I was able to confirm I had all of the ingredients - growing in my garden.

So...we went out to divide and conquer: she harvested asparagus and I foraged nettles and herbs.

There were a few adaptations (I used cashews rather than half and half, which was optional anyway), and added some lovage, rather than rosemary (you can do this when you are an 'Iron Chef'!)

Are you comfortable with substitutions? Are you a cook-by-the-recipe/measurements chef?

Less than 20 minutes later, we had a beautiful green soup that was as delicious as it was nourishing. We even found the garnish!

What does this have to do with 'no expectations,' you ask? Well...I had nothing planned for our time visiting. I had no idea what to make for dinner. I had no idea she would bring this new book. I had no idea how the recipe would turn out.

And even still - everything came together beautifully.

It is not easy to live in this space of not knowing/no-expectations. It's the opposite of what we've been taught and society tells us to do: plan, prepare, arrange, schedule, etc.

It's taken me a long time (and soul-searching and anguish) to get to this place of (mostly) being okay with letting go & letting God, the Universe, and mySelf take care of things...because when I can drop my expectations, I often receive surprises beyond anything I could have imagined.

Like nourishing nettle soup.