Centuries ago, before elaborate bottling processes and wineries, wines were transported in wineskins. It was advised to never pour new wine into old wineskins because old wineskins were contaminated with fermented bacteria. New wineskins lose their pliability as they age and burst when the new wine is poured into old skins, the skins no longer have the flexibility to expand and contract to the fermented gases.

Isn’t that what we do? As we age, we lack the flexibility to adjust to life and earn the label of being “set in our ways.” We use the excuse of “that’s just who I am,” as if it’s ok and then can’t understand why year after year nothing is changing. Each day, each week, month after month, and every year, we receive new wine. Daily, we receive new opportunities that can turn our lives around, but we are pouring new wine, new opportunities into old wineskins. Our mind’s old skins, fermented with past failures, setbacks, and negative thoughts are bursting, spilling new opportunities onto the ground and becoming washed away with our self-imposed limitations. Just as a snake sheds its skin and begins anew, begin each day anew with expectations. When your expectations rise above your past and are not limited on your present circumstances, a new skin, your new beginning, is set in motion. You will always receive what you expect.