Expectation

I really enjoy organization, knowing full well that sometimes I can get myself into a bad situation. I can become too compartmentalized and allow things to worry me that shouldn’t. Sometimes I create four different categories for only four items, which becomes a self-defeating situation. However, other times the benefits of organization are obvious and desirable. I can put things in places that I can reference easily, share with others, review, revise and group with similar items. I can find a sense of completeness and progress as the amount of items in an area build one upon another. I can quickly save, store and enjoy items, not to mention I can make room for new items by organizing the ones I have. Here I am making reference to my computer more than anything else, but this also applies to my room, my car, my notebooks, file cabinets and so on.
I think one of the greatest challenges in all of this is to organize and plan in a manner which sets appropriate goals and expectations. “If you do not meet your expectations, you will often come away disappointed,” said the Dalai Lama. I think this is true. Maybe more elaborative, expectations of anyone on anything are the direct result of that person’s mind. Everyone decides what they want and what will please them. If someone has an expectation for a certain event, or for the outcome of a certain event, then it is the strength of that expectation that will decide their final satisfaction. Sometimes we set expectations that are too high for ourselves and for people around us and those expectations never satisfied. Then sometimes, we set minimal expectations in hopes of avoiding disappointment in ourselves and others, and still we are never satisfied. However, there are times in our lives when we are satisfied. We have impressed ourselves even when our expectations were high, we have achieved what we thought might be possible but we weren’t sure or we have watched a friend achieve something which makes them very happy and we are proud of them. I think those are moments when a healthy balance has been found, between expectation, satisfaction and happiness.
It is hard to know what to expect of ourselves. We are each great in so many different ways, with potential that we know we have barely tapped into. We each fail as we try to achieve our little goals each day but sometimes, more important than succeeding, we need to be patient with ourselves. We could complete thirty important tasks in a day while focusing on the one thing that we did wrong, or didn’t complete. However, if we were patient, compassionate and wise with ourselves, it is likely that we would give that incomplete task attention proportional to its place among the other thirty complete tasks. Moderation means rest, activity, reflection, rejuvenation, enjoyment and appreciation. We have a lot to do each day, but part of that is doing nothing. We have to take time to rest, time to do nothing, time to work, time to think, time to laugh and time to reenergize. Even the best saws become dull and we all know the worthlessness of sawing with a dull blade. If we look hard enough, we can see just how sharp we are on any given day. If we aren’t quite sharp enough, sawing won’t help. Finding what helps us become better, calmer, lighter and more compassionate will. It’s very much a part of who we are and something we have to consider every day.