Regionativo

Think of it as a scene with one of your friends who just got back from a trip to the Sahara dessert. Naturally you would ask ‘how did it go?’, your friend would say to you ‘pretty bad, the trip didn’t meet my expectations’, ‘why?’ you would ask to which your friend would reply ‘because there was no snow’.

Well, obviously your friend was up for dissapointment well before his trip began. Expectations come from the latin expectare which means to expect, to wait. Waiting inherently means inaction towards an end result. Therefore, to have expectations means to wait for something to just happen.

In most company’s interviewing sessions a question is asked: ‘what do you expect from this company?’, answers will vary: ‘growth’ some will say, ‘experience’ others will reply, ‘money’ would be a third option; and what happens if you get the job and you don’t see any growth? any experience to be had? no money raise after a while?. Well, you can say the company didn’t meet your expectations. But you have to think, all those ‘expectations’ were things you were waiting the company would provide. Instead ask yourself this question ‘what are you looking for in this company?’ and you’ll realize the importance of your role and your actions on actually getting that you so desire.

In buddhism the word expectation is used with caution, while it is natural to expect something in life, it is important to understand where the waiting ends and your own actions start so that you can reach the point where your expectation is met with actual results. As such I like to change the word expectation for desire, mainly because to expect is to place blame outside of you if it is not met, while desire is the feeling that can fuel your actions and make you get to that you wish for.

Buddhists try to live in the moment, the present, understand that life is as it is. They accept life as it comes, good or bad. But don’t get confused, it doesn’t mean being lazy or conformist, it means they do not expect life to give them anything they want, they take action to reach their goals, it is through those actions we will be able to harvest the good in life.