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Expectations Eliminate Equanimity
Craving control + Making comparisons = Frustration with ourselves and others.
My whole life, I’ve been a passenger — never a driver. It amazes me how often my husband talks to other drivers as if they could hear him. The connection between his frustration and how he expects other drivers to behave is obvious. Even reasonable expectations aren’t met. Seeing parents not watching their little ones when they’re near a street corner infuriates him.
I have a more passive temperament and stoic approach to life. I’ve learned that I can’t change or even influence most people. During my years with Codependents Anonymous, I realized that I can accept their actions without liking or approving them. I still find certain behaviours more irritating than others. These are times when I repeat the first line of the serenity prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change”.
Being interrupted when I’m speaking exasperates me, especially when they say something entirely unrelated to my comment. I stop talking and turn my gaze away from them. If they’re talking, they’re not listening, so why waste my breath? No wonder the tagline on my first blog was: “I’d rather write than talk”!
The only thing you should expect of yourself is to do the best you can in every…
