By Murli Chari
It’s very obvious and human history is replete with examples when high expectations with regard to success, relationships, happiness, wealth, and a legion of other sources.
We have seen ample times when the fans of a particular going berserk resorting to arson when their teams lose as they had expected that it would win.
Many people have smashed their television sets when their nation loses in a sporting event or their political losing the battle of votes.
Parents find it depressing and frustrating when their children do not do very well in their exams as they had expected.
In the most sacred of relationships marriage, the expectations of husbands and wives are the reason for discord and misery.
Children are annoyed when their expectations are not fulfilled by their parents with regard to freedom, costly smartphones, pocket money, and the like.
Citizens have unreasonable expectations from the elected political parties which promise the moon in their election manifestos.
We have been predated by advertisers who raise our expectations to the sky and dash our hopes to the ground. Wherever expectations are high frustration and misery are bound to crop up as expectations sow the seeds of frustration.
Miracles happen when the expectations are the least. Due to constant bombardment, we go to watch a movie with great expectations and come home totally disillusioned.
Expectations unless tempered with moderation it is bound to lead to great disappointment resulting in avoidable misery. There is a beautiful formula which is as under:
Happiness= Efforts/Expectations.
If the efforts are more and expectations lower the happiness quotient is bound to be very big. It’s as simple as that. Expectations are the quagmire of our own making. On the other hand, if we resort to acceptance in place of expectation our experience is euphoric. This analogy is applicable in every human endeavor.
Take for example the workplace where bosses expect their subordinates to give great results but that only leads to more altercations and bad blood.
In our personal lives as well we expect life to give all that we need or rather what we want. The universe provides us with everything we need when we need them most.
Once we remove expectations from the equation in all facets of human life we will enjoy life as never before. Globally if we decide to bring down expectations to a reasonable level there would be a spurt in affluence and happiness.
To harmonize relations amongst various fissiparous and splinter groups we need to tone down our expectations.
Most of the divorces currently ubiquitous can be traced to unreasonable expectations. All the strife in every domain can be checked or minimized if we start toning down our expectations.
The very cause of stress is unreasonable expectations. For a salubrious relationship between various beneficiaries, we need to keep this demon under check lest it should run amok and cause devastation.
Ego and expectations go hand in hand as they feed each other. Many times as an offshoot failed expectations lead to carnage, mayhem, and devastation.
We need to slay this demon before it devours all of us. We need to exercise caution as far as expectations are concerned with a tinge of wisdom.
We need to analyze human history to understand how expectations have played havoc. Autocratic leaders expect that people pay them to respect either by genuflecting or falling prostrate.
If someone with audacity and self-respect refuses to cringe the consequences may be disastrous.
Expectations play spoilsport in all the areas of human life. No doubt, some expectations are bound to be there but only a modicum is vital.
Expectations emanate more from greed than from wisdom. They can also make us braggadocio.
We need to be wise enough to keep the unruly horse of expectations under a tight leash. Many millions of human lives could have been saved if we had toned out our expectations.
When the expectations are under bound we enjoy a relaxed state of mind open to receive the blessings of supreme bliss. To begin with, we can try it out on a single when we keep our expectations to the least minimum and see the benefit.
If it works wonders we can slowly do it for a week, then a month, and so on. We can expect miracles when we do that.
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