Your expectations are your own—and it is your responsibility both to make them clear to others and to take care of yourself when they aren’t met.
we can draw principles of truth from the Prophet Joseph’s experiences that provide insights for receiving our own revelation. For example: We labor under difficulties. We turn to the scriptures to receive wisdom to act. We demonstrate our faith and trust in God. We exert our power to plead with God to help us thwart the adversary’s influence. We offer up the desires of our hearts to God. We focus on His light guiding our life choices and resting upon us when we turn to Him. We realize He knows each of us by name and has individual roles for us to fulfill.7 In addition, Joseph Smith restored the knowledge that we have divine potential and eternal worth. Because of that relationship with our Heavenly Father, I believe He expects us to receive revelation from Him.
I speak of hope in Christ not as wishful thinking. Instead, I speak of hope as an expectation that will be realized. Such hope is essential to overcoming adversity, fostering spiritual resilience and strength, and coming to know that we are loved by our Eternal Father and that we are His children, who belong to His family. When we have hope in Christ, we come to know that as we need to make and keep sacred covenants, our fondest desires and dreams can be fulfilled through Him.
Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations.
So, I’ve found the best formula for a great life is to: Trade your expectations for appreciation. The moment you do, your whole world transforms.
We will always carry anger and hurt in our hearts as long as we have expectations of other people and life conditions we can’t control.
Forgiveness is really an understanding that the only person you hurt when you’re upset (no matter how justified it may be) is yourself. Even if everything in you wants to blame someone else, consider giving yourself the gift of forgiving your expectations.
If you really want to be stressed, all you have to do is expect life and all the people in it, to think, behave, speak, and act the way you have predetermined they ”should.” If you hang on to your expectations, I can guarantee you plenty of stress and pain.
What’s the solution to being disappointed all the time? ... When you experience someone doing something unconscious, it’s helpful to remember that it’s rarely ever about you, and almost always just that person feeling so much stress and pressure that they have literally activated their survival mode. People in survival mode can go blind in a moment. It happens to the very best of us. It’s part of being human.
So much anger, frustration, rage, hurt, depression, and sadness burns from expecting people to be loving, generous, courteous, compassionate, proactive, present, supportive, caring, etc. ... and if your well being is based on those acquaintances acting a certain way back to you, you simply will not have much well-being.
To be truly free and happy in this life, we must give up our expectations. Our biggest problem may very well be the belief that we are not supposed to have problems! Our power is in our problems as they unleash our resourcefulness and cause us to grow in order to respond consciously and compassionately to them.
When did you forgive even before someone said they were sorry? When can you choose to forgive without requiring an apology, or any conditions, or even a change of heart? Where can you own a higher meaning and finally set yourself free? How can you just let it go? It all goes back to trading in those useless expectations. And one way to get in the habit of this is through activating gratitude. ... What’s interesting is that we are incapable of being angry and grateful simultaneously.
Your expectations are your own—and it is your responsibility both to make them clear to others and to take care of yourself when they aren’t met.