Expectations
Dear friends,
There are always two things going on: the circumstance and our feelings about the circumstance. Yogananda said, "Conditions are neutral; it is your reaction to conditions that make you sad or happy." This is hard to see when a true crisis is present (though still true), so imagine the hundreds and thousands of things that come up that "get our goat" but could have been handled better internally. Start small and make step-by-step progress.
Most of our frustration or upsetness has to do with expectations. An "It shouldn't ever be this way" attitude. I have a friend who has come up with a way to handle this. One circumstance that arises often regards money and occurs when someone or some business is taking advantage of us. He said, "I just assume that over the course of my entire life I will lose $100,000 by people taking advantage of me in one way or another. So when something comes up, I mentally just mark it against that budgeted bill that has already been paid for." What a great idea!
The world runs on energy. Every living thing is trying to get energy by eating, sunlight, or absorption of one kind or another. People too, through power and through gaining money (which is, after all, just a distilled form of energy).
Some animals are predators. Some get their energy through eating plants, which get their energy from the sun. People who are not evolved often get it through sneaky financial means. I am not in the slightest condoning such a thing, and they will reap karma and learn that, while taking advantage of someone might be a short-term gain, it does not work in the long run. But our own frustration or anger means we lose twice: once financially and once in consciousness.
May we each learn to accept reality for what it is rather than railing against it. Start with the little things and work towards, as Yogananda put it, the ability to be calm and peaceful amidst the crash of breaking worlds.
Blessings,
David G., manager
For the staff at East West