Tipping the Scales Through Expectation

Expectation tips experience toward what we expect, whether it's in our favor or against it.

It has been said that what we expect tips the scales in our favor. That's not entirely true.

What we expect does lead toward experiences that support that expectation. But life doesn't care if those expectations are negative or positive. If we always expect the sun to shine then we will notice more sunny days. If we always expect rain we're going to feel like we have lot of floods in our lives.

One thing that people forget is that all of those things are happening all around us all of the time. There are always sunny days and always floods. It's just that we see more of what we focus on.

Science calls that our reticular activator.
Metaphysics might call it law of attraction or some other universal principle.
Religion might call it God's will or divine guidance. Or if it's really bad then maybe the devil did it.
And some people might just say it's luck, coincidence or fate.

It's all of those things and none of them at the same time. Part of being human is to focus on different things. Some of us spend our lives replaying the past, projecting those experiences into the present and future. Others live almost entirely in imagined futures, constantly playing out "what if's" that may or may not happen. And most of us relate the future and the past to the present, overlaying what's going on right now with what we expect from our past and what we imagine in our future. That's why it seems like our expectations are playing out and we are proving ourselves right again.

So how can we use this to create a better life for ourselves?

We become aware of our expectations and we nudge them in the direction we want to go.

Note that we will still have all of the experiences that life offers. It's just that we will notice more of the expectations we are focusing on.

For some this can happen in a flash - with a life changing event or moment of clarity changing our expectations and life trajectory completely.

For most it's a more gradual thing. We make a commitment to changing our life experience. We work on our awareness and focus on the expectations we want to nurture. We correct course, sometimes almost minute by minute at first. We look for evidence. It may feel like starting a train.... lots of power builds up in the engine then slowly, almost excruciatingly the wheels begin to turn. But over time we pick up speed and soon we're gliding smoothly across the landscape.

Totally worth the effort.  Completely life changing.