Failures of expectation

This is something nobody talks about much.  

When someone “fails”, it is mostly because what happened did not match what they EXPECTED to happen.  They are disappointed, discouraged, and or heartbroken.

But in hindsight, very often it was their expectations that were off.  It was a thinking problem from the beginning.  

The action was mere cause and effect – If you do this in this way, you get these results.

When we developed our expectations, we did not have all the information, the experience, or the right advisors.  So we had unrealistic expectations that were of course, unmet.

When we are learning by doing, we don’t know what is going to happen.  We come to learn by doing.

Nobody rises to low expectations; true.

In a great paradox, we must have high expectations, and hold onto them loosely – especially when we are doing something for the first time.  

Humor (sort of) – “…and they lowered their expectations, and lived happily ever after”.

Once we try and get disappointing results, we are more qualified to set realistic expectations AND to adjust our actions to get what we want.

Suffering is when what happens is short of our expectations, and it is optional.