SURRENDER YOUR EXPECTATIONS
April 2, 2011. Count how many times you’ve set an expectation in the last 24 hours? About the weather, your job, your partner, your children, your family? And then compare that to how many times the reality matched your expectation.
How did that make you feel?
When we have decided in advance how someone else is going to act or how a situation is going to be we open ourselves up to suffering when the reality doesn’t match our expectation. In yogic philosophy this attachment to expectation is a root cause of human suffering.
Focused inward another name for expectation is Self-Judgment. This critical prism of judging ourselves in advance of the outcome and again with the result only brings more disappointment.
We would do well to heed the advice of Eckhart Tolle in the Power of Now who writes, “When you surrender to what is and so become fully present, the past ceases to have any power. The realm of Being, which has been obscured by the mind, then opens up. Suddenly, a great stillness arises within you, and an unfathomable sense of peace. And within that peace, there is great joy. And within that joy, there is love.” This practice on and off the mat helps us to see clearly without making happiness dependent upon our expectations. This acceptance for sure brings about inner peace, joy and love.
So that no matter what the world presents we know we can manage remaining quiet and centered at our center. "Accepting means you allow yourself to feel whatever it is you are feeling at that moment. It is part of the isness of the Now. You can't argue with what is. Well, you can, but if you do, you suffer." (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth)
Who goes on to write “To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness. This state is then no longer dependent upon things being in a certain way, good or bad. It seems almost paradoxical, yet when your inner dependency on form is gone, the general conditions of your life, the outer forms, tend to improve greatly.” Try it for a week or even a day where you surrender your heavy expectations of yourself and others and live with less resistance to this isness of now and then decide if its worth going back to again living with the burden of expectation for even a day longer. Love yourself, love your day, love your ilfe, Silvia
TODAY’S SWEET PLAYLIST
Gobinday Mukunday, Spirit Voyage Artists
In Another Time, Sade
Miss Teardrops, Felix Laband
Allah Hoo, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Yara Seeli Seeli, Lata Mangeshkar
Express Yourself, Mocean Worker, Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street
Mr Big Stuff, Jean Knight
In The Colors, Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
Blind to You, Collie Buddz
Jet Lag, Joss Stone
Butterflyz, Alicia Keys
In A Sentimental Mood, Nancy Wilson with Hank Jones
Shavasana/Deep Relaxation, Shiva Rea