As you practice letting go of expectations, you might notice that it’s challenging just to notice the expectations — we suggest you use visual and computer/phone reminders to keep this in your awareness during the day.

But sometimes even harder is noticing that you even have an expectation — they’re so ingrained in us, and come in so many different forms, that we don’t realize they’re there.

To help you out, I’m going to list some examples of expectations you might have (I definitely have all of these at different times) … these might not all apply to you, but you might notice some here that you have, and others you might not notice until later.

This is not an exhaustive list, but here we go …

You might expect that:

And of course, I could go on and on. This list could easily be 10 times as long. But you get the idea — our expectations are everywhere, in every situation, and they’re not realistic.

Instead, let’s be realistic: let’s see reality as it is, without these preconceived ideals for how life should be. Let’s see life for what it is, with curiosity instead of expectations.

Let’s start by noticing these expectations as they arise.