Meditation to Deal with Expectations

Meditation to Deal with Expectations 

How does meditation help? 

Mediation helps with uprooting the disturbance or disappointment caused by unfulfilled expectations? 

When you meditate without any attempt to control your mind, you will, sooner or later, arrive at the firm conviction that thoughts, feelings, and body sensations are arising and disappearing all by themselves, without any volition on your part. Your response to those phenomena is also not directly in your control. For example, in meditation, on some days the mind will drift in a daydream for many minutes without you being aware, whereas on other days you are aware very quickly that you are daydreaming. Sometimes you may be annoyed by your thoughts but on other days you spontaneously accept them or are even amused by them. Meditation also helps us to let go of expectations by allowing the mind to rest more and more in the present moment. By opening the mind to being more aware through regular meditation, we become more and more fulfilled and calm in the moment. The mind gains the ability to spontaneously accept people and situations as they are. Consequently, regular meditation will, over time, result in fewer expectations and less disturbance and disappointment over unfulfilled expectations.

An Interesting Exercise:

Look for a convenient time and place to meditate. Turn on a guided meditation track. Once you have meditated and your mind is calmer, do the following activity.Make a list of unfulfilled expectations that have disturbed you recently; for example, your partner is untidy and doesn’t do as much work around the house as you think they should, your friend forgot your birthday, or you didn’t get the job you thought was a sure thing. Examine these expectations and see that in every case you have no direct control over whether they are fulfilled or not. See that each of them is a happening. See that the people involved are creatures of their habits, beliefs, life experiences, and genetics—none of which are under their control. See that people’s behavior is as much a natural phenomenon as the weather. Also note that everything in life is changing, including people and situations and your perception of them. For example, your partner‘s behavior may change and your perception of it may also change. Be aware that the more your mind is fixated on “me” and “my problems”, the more expectations you will have and the more upset you’ll be if they’re not met.

Om Namah Shivay.