Advent impulses: Anticipation

Anticipation is the most wonderful joy - as the saying goes. And the effect that anticipation has on our emotions has actually been well researched. We know that the prospect of future, beautiful moments fill us with stronger positive emotions than looking back on past beautiful memories or even than the moment of fulfilment itself. Anticipation can also be detected neurologically, as a mixture of hormones that our brain produces and that fill us with a feeling of lightness and energy.

Anticipation is therefore important for our psyche, as it has a motivating and encouraging effect. Both in everyday life and in difficult situations, imagining a positive future helps us to focus our energy on it. Anticipation therefore drives us on and creates enthusiasm. This is the only way to develop and progress. Thus anticipation is also an important element in professional terms, helping us to remain determined and work towards the envisioned, positive target state and keep at it. Especially when things get stressful, this positive feeling helps us to cope better with hectic, uncertain times.

In fact, we can cultivate the feeling of anticipation or joyful expectation and make use of it. For example, by trying to consciously create small "islands of anticipation" in our lives and thus set in motion a chain of positive thoughts and emotions. The good thing is that we don't need much to do this, because our everyday life also offers many opportunities that we can look forward to if we just focus on them: the first coffee in the morning, consciously planning breaks during the day, 'celebrating' the completion of a project, arranging an evening with friends, a ritual in the evening, daily meditation, etc.