NOVEMBER 21 REFLECTION FOR THE DAY "Accept. Don't expect"

Adversity introduces man to himself, a poet once said. For me, the same is true even of 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. A Day at a Time https://amzn.to/3EOjuiH G.A. A New Beginning https://amzn.to/3E9YgPC