Expectations Breed Disappointments

Just to illustrate my point, I would like to request you to make a mental note of the last three times you were disappointed. Out of these three moments, was any one (or all) of them because you were disappointed that your expectations weren't met? For intance...

• That movie was such a disappointment, although the previews looked snazzy.
• I was waiting for her call all day.
• The entree I ordered looked so delicious in the photo, but the taste is so flat.
• I expected him to propose, he broke up instead.
• I expected an outstanding appraisal and a raise for all my hard work.

The list could go on and on...

I reckon our letdowns are, for the most part, the result of expectations. We are, after all, the Kings and Queens in our own worlds. A whoosh of the magic wand and the world must sing our tune. We wish, we assume, we anticipate that events to go by our feelings and people take to our way of thinking. Alas, this doesn't always happen.

Invariably we end up building a great deal into our imagination or emotions and when things don't work out we feel let down, cheated or just plain ol' sad. Sometimes we take it to heart and it takes days or weeks to get over it; sometimes a tub of ice-cream will suffice; and yet other times just a wave of the hand is enough to forget about the episode. Whatever the intensity or ramification, we do experience the pang, even if it is for a few moments.

In that case, how can we avoid it, knowing full well that it is us, our minds, our conscience that is partly responsible for it. Must we try and avoid looking forward to anything and anyone, for fear of disappointment? Can we cure disappointments by taking an anti-expectation pill?

Wishful thinking is always encouraged, however the mind has no boundaries. Our thoughts can race faster than the speed of light and can travel in perpetuity across the universe. As humans, we are gifted with emotions such as anticipation, contemplation and purpose, to curb this means to domesticate the energy, which, as we know it, is brimming with potential. To put it simply, life would be dull without expectations.

Quite a conundrum, isn't it?