Lo and Behold!

'Lo and behold' is  'a phrase used to indicate something surprising or unexpected'. 'Lo' is a short word for 'look' or 'see'. When you use the phrase, there is a feeling of surprise as there is an unexpected appearance of someone or something.

What are your 'lo and behold' moments? The last time I said it to myself was when I saw my youngest daughter in flesh again last June. I was whispering to myself as I was approaching her, "Look at you, baby! Lo and behold!"  It was really a huge feeling of amazement to see your baby transformed into a beautiful lady.

Surprise, for some researchers, is a cognitive assessment on the probability of an event, while for others, it is an emotion, on par, unusual -- with happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, and fear. That particular reunion with my child was both for me -- I knew there was that probability as she already told me, though not yet sure until I saw her before my eyes, and yes, brought me mixed emotions.

Since childhood, I have been very interested to learn about human behavior. I have wondered why is it that people are more attracted to the unknowns -- surprising events, surprise raffle prizes, surprise guests, surprise Santa Claus gifts, etc? What is there to see beyond my expectation?

When I was a little girl, my mother used to tell me not to show my dress she created for me for an event until the right date and time. There must be an element of surprise. Yes, I saw my relatives and friends' eyes like saying, "Look at you! Lo and behold! How time flies!"   

There were times in the past that I joined singing and oratorical contests. I had that awareness that there were other singers and orators much, much better than me. But many times the wind of favor turned to me. When I won the competitions, I was greatly astonished, surprised. Lo and behold!  The unexpected joy from winnings activated the dopamine neurons in my brains and was far more rewarding than expected victory. 

These days with the massive information accessible to us within a few mouseclicks, we are all hungry to learn more, extremely curious to be surprised with what lies ahead after discovering something through the learning journey. It is not just about keeping informed but more about exploring and discovering, initially virtually.

When you are on a boat and you see lovely islands with clouds and tranquil sea, you say, "Lo and behold!"  You cannot touch them, but you feel the emotion. So when you see video clips or e-tour via virtual reality (VR) gadgets, you cannot touch them, but it is the same, you can feel the emotion.

"Surprise is a key factor in emotional life," according to Psychology.Iresearchnet.com.

When a man proposes marriage to her lady and gives her a ring at an unexpected place and time, lo and behold, the feelings get intense.

When my daughter told me that she prepared her ballpen and paper in an envelope for the next nursing board examinations, and she just had a silent self-review, I was extremely surprised to learn that she passed it. Lo and behold! I felt like dancing on cloud 9 in happiness.

With artificial intelligence (AI) on the rise, smart/intelligent digital equipment, devices and gadgets have the predictive feature. You type first two (2) letters and your keyboard in your mobile phone will show predictive words. When you browse or search using free engines, you see advertisements that are within your lines of interests. When you are thinking of buying something, related inserts or pop-ups appear on your screen, as if they know what you think of. You will be surprised at how their algorithms predict your next move and how AI can affect your buying behavior through your emotional patterns which registered in their platforms when you use their apps or programs.  

Predictive analytics is in the blood of AI. It "encompasses a variety of statistical techniques from data mining, predictive modeling, and machine learning, that analyze current and historical facts to make predictions about future or otherwise unknown events".

We always have that curiosity about what happens next, what lies ahead, what does the future hold for us. There is nothing wrong with predicting the future so we can prepare for it, and as they say, create it.

But know that God is full of wisdom that nobody can predict the future as exactly as it is.

Join me in passionately meditating on this as told by Vera Nazarian,

Would you like to know your future? If your answer is yes, think again. Not knowing is the greatest life motivator. So enjoy, endure, survive each moment as it comes to you in its proper sequence, a surprise. 

And you will say, "Lo and behold!" 

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Photo credits:  Pixabay