TheLeaderInside.com

“Our limitations and success will be based, most often, on our own expectations for ourselves.
What the mind dwells upon, the body acts upon.”

~~~ Denis Waitley

Without going into a lot of detail, I’d like to explain a little about what prompted today’s article. This has been a strange week for me. I’ve had major difficulty finding my focus to do the things that needed doing. The “biggie” for me, as I’ve mentioned before, is to finish the work on my novel. That requires my attention every day, because if I don’t do some work on it each day, I tend to put it off more and more. If I can skip one day, it’s almost certain that I’ll skip another one — and then another one, and so on. And, folks, I don’t have that kind of time. I need to get this done.

Anyway …

That led me to start thinking about expectations and how to meet them.

I know that I may hold myself to greater expectations than are necessary. Let’s face it — if I set them too high, I fail to meet them more often. Stepping away from the writing for a moment — here are a couple of examples of things that happen in my life ….

Often, when I have finished my meditation, I have trouble staying with the sense of peace that I enjoyed while I was in the meditation. Or, there’s always the long line at the supermarket checkout counter when I’m in a hurry. Another one is the phone ringing after I’ve gone to sleep. I’m supposed to be a person who treasures peace and tranquility, right? I can’t tell you how things like these will knock me off my spiritual equilibrium in a jiffy! I feel guilty, angry — and even hypocritical for not being able to maintain my peaceful nature.

“Never idealize others. They will never live up to your expectations. Don’t over-analyze your relationships. Stop playing games. A growing relationship can only be nurtured by genuineness.”

~~~ Leo F. Buscaglia

The same goes for the writing — I end up beating up on my self esteem when I don’t get done what I think needs to be done each day.

Do you ever feel this way?

Here’s an answer to all this (I hope I’m listening!) …

Doing the best you can in your quest for spiritual growth is vastly more important than striving for perfection. In my case, the same thing goes for working on this novel.

“Happiness equals reality minus expectations”

~~~ Tom Magliozzi

Just because we’re devoted to following a spiritual, peaceful path in our lives, or just because we’re striving to reach some goal or ideology, doesn’t mean that we should expect to achieve absolute perfection. We need to stay balanced within ourselves, don’t we? The secret is to be aware that we’re feeling anger because we think we’ve failed at something. This awareness is the necessary step towards achieving that balance. We all know that there will be difficulties along the paths we choose. When we react to those difficulties in a negative way, we need to recognize that both the difficulty and our reaction to it are merely passing events and not a part of who we truly are. That’s how to move past these things and get back in balance and back to our center.

The question to ask yourself is, “Are you doing the best you can?” Even if you are able to do nothing more than acknowledge what you are feeling, and that there is little you can do to affect your current circumstances, in time you’ll alter your reaction to such circumstances. It’s about expectations. If our expectation is to achieve perfection all the time, we’ll find ourselves failing more often.

If our expectation is that negative thoughts may creep into our mind from time-to-time — and we can expect to recognize them for what they are — and then just let them go — we may not find absolute perfect peace. However, we will be able to find our own peace and serenity from knowing that we have done our very best.

“When we create something, we always create it first in a thought form. If we are basically positive in attitude, expecting and envisioning pleasure, satisfaction and happiness, we will attract and create people, situations, and events which conform to our positive expectations.”

~~~ Shakti Gawain

Namaste!

And, as I always say in closing — remember these words …

You are the most precious gift you can give yourself. Every day look in the mirror and say, “I’m available to more good than I have experienced, realized or imagined ever before in my life!” Do this every day while you look into your own eyes.

You are special — and you are loved. You are the greatest gift you can be.

Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

~~~ Mother Theresa (1910-1997)

~~~ DBL-R

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As you know, I do practice sitting, silent meditation every day in my life. Recently, I did a podcast about this for another blog that I read. Take a moment and click this link to hear what meditation means to me and what it does for me.

My Meditation Podcast

In my meditation I use what I truly believe is the most powerful personal growth and mind development tool on earth. It’s the The Holosync Solution. I knew that meditation was a vital element to nurturing my soul — to opening myself to the universe — and this tool has allowed me to achieve and receive the benefits of deep, long-term meditation — and to achieve it much more quickly. If you’re having trouble “getting meditation to work for you” – then the The Holosync Solution is what you’re looking for.

Regular, daily meditation can give you …

(1) Increased intelligence and creativity.
(2) Lower stress levels — and with that — increased ability to handle whatever the world tosses your way.
(3) New levels of self-awareness and inner peace.
(4) The healing of emotional issues at the deepest levels —

— it’s definitely worth taking the time for this powerful practice every day.

With a One-Year 100% Iron-Clad Guarantee, you can now do so with no risk whatsoever — just click any of the links that say … The Holosync Solution

— The Holosync Solution

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[tags]peace, inner self, The Secret, Law of Attraction, dreams, spiritual energy, action, value, inner balance, enlightenment, destiny, manifestation, meditation, patience, gratitude, tolerance, acceptance, body balance, life cycle, beginnings, endings, positive thinking, ego, silence, consciousness, staying grounded, cycle of life[/tags]