Think of past few days about situations when you were upset and lost your joy.

What was the root cause of your loss of joy and peace?

When people and life do not meet our expectations we fight that reality; we may feel entitled to experiencing our expectations; we feel angry; we feel disappointed; we give away our joy as the result.

In my experience, the thief of our joy is our reaction when our expectations are not met. 

Let us look at some simple examples that we may give away our joy:

-  Your children did not call you when expected. 

- You were late to work due to crazy traffic. 

- Plans with your friends changed in the last minute. 

- You do not have enough money saved. 

- Your spouse did not clean up after himself or herself.

- The person on the phone was rude to you.

- You are spiritual and still get grumpy. 

- You are nice to people and they are not nice to you in response.

- People around you do not smile enough.

There is nothing wrong with having some expectations. For example, we expect a level of customer service and competence.

Sometimes our expectations are not spelled out or agreed upon or not practical all the time. How we react when our expectations are not met is the key issue.

Do you give your joy away when your expectations of others are not met or are you calm and respond from position of humility, acceptance, love and freedom?

Some questions to ponder on:

·         What expectations do you have from others/yourself that gives away your joy if not met?

·         Do you think people should behave according to your expectations? Why?

·         Why do you have any expectations at all?

Copyright .2019 by Shervin Hojat