Expectations are funny things; they can inspire you to work toward a long desire goal and vision so that you experience satisfaction, joy and fulfilment when you get there, as much as they can confuse, disappoint or frustrate you when you realise that what you actually achieve doesn't look at all like what you expected at the start, or worse you may still be battling long and hard and not making much headway in meeting them at all.
Expectations can be a real block; they may be based on what your parents, partners, friends or other influencers in your life or work have told you that you "should" be aiming for to be successful or have in place to achieve certain outcomes, rather than be what you might actually want for yourself. Other's expectations that we have taken on often have a way of causing a lot of disappointment, angst, frustration or conflict. take a moment to reflect, how many of us have been so fixated on what we expect to happen that when life takes us, or tries to take us down another path, we resist and battle and wonder why we are finding things so hard?
I personally have found that when I put expectations in place especially in relation to working with clients or dealing with other people, I often end up disappointed whether that be expecting a client to act or respond in a certain way, expecting a project to have a specific outcome when I don't have the actual responsibility for it's delivery, or even expecting to have a certain experience when out socialising. Who said that my expectation is the right, or only or best way anyway??
So what am I doing about it? I'm now aiming to replace expectation with INTENTION!!
Having an intention for something to happen doesn't mean I have to work any less or just sit back and wait for it to appear just because I wish for it, what it does mean though, is that having an Intention to achieve a certain outcome allows so much more freedom in how, when, why and with whom it will happen. I just feel less constrained, more flexible, more open to possibilities and have more trust that what I need to achieve will be achieved, with less angst and aggravation and stress along the way. Just writing that makes me breathe a lot deeper and my shoulders drop with relaxation.
I invite you to join me in releasing yourself from being locked into rigid parameters, narrow ways of doing things and a prescribed method based on the "expected way things will happen" and simply use a framework based on Intention that provides many open spaces which allows us all space and a new ability to respond to the changing environment, day to day conditions, complexity of humanity and even, dare I say it, how we might be feeling on the day!
Maybe if the old way of having endless Expectations is not working, this way of having Intentions is worth trying for a while!!
I know living this way has already taken a load off my mind and is freeing my energy up to focus on the journey rather than be so tied up in keeping on track with my pre-set expectations. Have fun and let me know how you go. :-)
