Expectations...We all have them- we put them on ourselves and especially on others. You think to yourself these are a good thing - they help me to push myself to try harder, to do something to please myself or others so I can live up to the expectation!
It may not surprise you to know that I have a different view of expectations.
I believe that expectations by their very nature cannot exist in the NOW - they can only exist in the future or sadly, we can not have lived up to them in the past. In reality the only time we ever have is NOW. If we had a Time Machine and went forward in time the moment we arrived we would still be in the NOW not the future and summarily if we went backwards into our past the moment we arrived there we would still be in the NOW. Expectations cannot be in the present moment because they are something you have not achieved yet. So if expectations do not exist in the NOW where are they?
Expectations are really nowhere, so if they are nowhere, can they be something? What are they? Expectations are really statements of lack. They are words and ideas that tell you that you are missing something. They are a belief that you do not have the 'Thing' you wish to have right now! So you are living in the state of lack, so you create an expectation and then you strive for it and hope to one day receive it. So now you are living in the energy of lack; you are living in the belief you do not deserve that thing you want right now but at some time in the future. If you work hard enough or please someone more then you will achieve that expectation and THEN you will be happy, but right now you cannot be happy because you do not have the thing or that person's approval or respect or whatever you have deemed you were lacking.
So this being the case then expectations by definition means that there is something you aspire to have or be. There is something that you are not feeling right now and therefore you feel in this moment that you do not have it but one day you will 'expect' to have it appear. This means you wait for an outside source to tell you or demonstrate to you that you have finally achieved the thing you did not have and therefore you must have acquired it!
I have the belief that what you feel you do not have will never appear to you from an outside source until you have defined and created it within the self first. Whatever you are feeling on the inside will attract what matches it from the outside, so if you love and approve of who you are on the inside and do not need other peoples approval, then approval and love will come from the outside because that energy is matching the energy you are putting out into the world. When you feel you are in lack of something then you create the energy of lack and the thing you wish to have cannot come to you because the energy doesn't match. So expectations create a barrier to the thing you are hoping to attract.
Remember when I am talking about expectations I am not talking about goals or dreams or something you are working toward because all of these things mean you are already in the energy of creating them. When you set a goal you are already in the acceptance of that thing, you are moving toward it and it is usually a concrete thing or feeling - expectations mean you are not in the energy of it, you are trying to find the energy of it and so you have not created the energy yet.
When you place expectations on yourself or others or try to achieve the perceived expectations of others and wait for them to live up to them you are acknowledging and creating lack. You are making it impossible to be happy and content because you are constantly trying to live up to and achieve something that does not really exist. This is like trying to fill a bucket with a big hole in the bottom, you can keep pouring the energy in but it will not stay there and create anything, it will just run through and you will try to fill that bucket forever.
So release yourself and others from expectations of any kind - acknowledge what you are achieving and who you are RIGHT NOW!- Concentrate on the amazing things you are doing right now and repair the hole in your soul's bucket - fill it up with love and approval for who you are and what you have accomplished in your life so far. The same holds true for the expectations you place on others - just acknowledge and celebrate who they are right now and tell them you love and approve of them right now. You do not have to agree with the things they are doing but you can certainly love them for who they are - remember if they were taken from you tomorrow all those expectations would mean nothing!
When you release yourself and others from the yoke of trying to live up to other peoples expectations and live to make yourself happy then you can be proud of your achievements and triumphs because you have done them to please yourself and to create a higher better version of who you are. You will no longer be the victim of needless suffering because you are not striving to please someone else, you are striving to please yourself and create who you are and not someone else's version of who you should be.
So I ask you again ...What Do You Expect?