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You Get What You Expect

Expectation – the state of expecting; anticipation.
Anticipation - confident expectation

Have you ever noticed that you get what you expect? I have and I bet you have too. If one imagines with enough energy behind it, expectations eventually manifest. When it comes to getting what we expect, we tend to put things in categories of good or bad. Therefore, it’s easy to believe in this phenomenon when we think the outcome is good. Yet often want to dismiss it when we think the outcome is bad because we are unwilling to take responsibility for the result. Sometimes expectations take time to manifest, as in my desire to move West took many years to come to fruition. Others develop quickly as in the story I am about to tell you.

It was a couple of weeks before my daughter and her family was scheduled to arrive for the Thanksgiving holidays. I had been keeping in touch almost daily with my grandkids in anticipation of their long awaited visit. Then one day I got an email from my daughter telling me that she had come down with one of those dreadful 24-hour stomach viruses. Not to worry though, their arrival wasn’t for at least another week or so and surely it would run its course through all ten of them by their departure date. Postponing the trip was not an option and I was concerned that they would have to travel with a bunch of sick kids. This would make for an unpleasant trip to Sweet Mom’s house, I thought, while pushing the other concerns I had aside. A few days before they boarded the plane for the trip, I expressed my fears. Suppose they would bring the awful bug with them and make us all sick for the holidays. I felt so insensitive and inconsiderate. How could I let such a comment come out of my mouth? I tried to put the thought out of my head but I had already given it energy. I even planned in advance that if Grandpa Davey, M and E, and I became ill, we would all get it at the same time. That way, we could get over it quickly and go on with our plans. At this point I knew that my thoughts and mere utterance had given life to the thing I did not want to manifest. I have been preaching these ideas for such a long time that my visiting daughter couldn't resist telling me that I got what I expected.  I still am not sure if she was humoring me, but I answered in the affirmative.

Call it self-fulfilling prophecy, manifesting your worst fears, or whatever else you choose, but I firmly believe that we get what we expect. So why not put the energy and emotion into the things you think are positive. The person, who expects to be lucky, always is. The person, who expects to be unlucky, always is.





©1/7/10