“Give without expectation, accept without reservation, and love without hesitation.” - Nishan Panwar
On my pursuit of happiness, I rediscovered the value of setting more realistic expectations. Simply, to add a bit more delight into my life by welcoming uncertainty, becoming more comfortable with being uncomfortable, and believing that the universe is unfolding and playing out precisely as it should.
We all do it; we set high exceptions for our partners, life events, or that road trip you spent your week planning. We tend to typically take on a mindset of lofty expectations for how something should be, and more often than not, we are left discouraged. Why do we do this to ourselves, when expectations are the root cause of disappointment?
I believe the key to feeling contentment lies within the management of your expectations of people and circumstances. Life is not perfect. Yet, it is in the imperfections where we learn the necessary balance of the good and the bad that this world produces so that we can feel satisfaction and peace through gratitude for everything that does go our way. If we never experienced failure, rejection, or something that derails our initial plan, then we would never know how great it is to be content. I smile thinking about the moments where I required something to work-out precisely as I planned only to be surprised and humbled that life had it’s own plan for me, and it was even better then I could have imagined. Having hope for good circumstances rather than expecting good circumstances is the key! In hoping for a positive outcome, regardless of what may happen, you give yourself more flexibility and a healthier mindset to combat all impediments, so that you can master anything that falls before you. When we "give without expectation, accept without reservation and love without hesitation,- (Nishan Panwar)” the world becomes a happier, and sweeter place to be.