Reflection for the Day
Adversity introduces man to himself, a poet once said. For me, the same is true of even imagined adversity. If I expect another person to react in a certain way in a given situation—and he or she fails to meet my expectation—well, then I hardly have the right to be disappointed or angry. Yet I occasionally still experience feelings of frustration when people don’t act or react as I think they should. Through such imagined—or, better yet, self-inflicted—adversity, I come face to face again with my old self, the one who wanted to run the whole show. Is it finally time for me to stop expecting and to start accepting?
Today I Pray
May I stop putting words in people’s mouths, programming them—in my own mind—to react as I expect them to. Expectations have fooled me before: I expected unbounded love and protection from those close to me, perfection from myself, undivided attention from casual acquaintances. On the adverse side, I expected failure from myself, and rejection from others. May I stop borrowing trouble—or triumph either—from the future.
Today I Will Remember
Accept. Don’t expect.
© 1989 by Hazelden Foundation
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