Today most people are so focused on expectations that any thing less will cause them to lose the ability to think rationally and control their emotions. We live in an environment where if you do something that is not in alignment with others expectations it can cause riots and road rage. Today I witnessed two ladies arguing with servers because their hot dog came on a bun. Their expectation was they should be able to order it without a bun however at this particular stand all the hot dogs were already on buns. Instead of being grateful and showing appreciation that there was food available they argued and allowed this to change them into a negative state.
Did you know anger in a human body shuts down the immune system for 5 hours? Knowing this it seems these ladies should have just thrown away the bun and eaten the hot dog without causing harm to their immune system. Heck, at this point it would have been better to just eat the whole hot dog, bun and all.
So how do we keep from letting expectations created these emotions in us? We change expectations to appreciation. With appreciation, we are grateful for what we have and the opportunities given. When something does not meet our full expectations, we can appreciate what we did receive and then work towards more things with a heart of gratitude. Then we can have peace and prosperity. But then again, if you prefer, you can live a life of unfulfilled expectations. Your choice!