More and more, I’m coming to view having expectations as an undesirable behaviour. It is better to just take things as they come, without preconceived notions about what they might or ought to be like, or what I would like them to be like.

If I expect to get some pleasure from some aspect of what I will be doing, and things turn out differently, I’m setting myself up for disappointment. If they do turn out as expected then, well, everything is no more than expected. If I expect the experience to be unpleasant, my expectations will colour my perceptions, so it is quite likely to be unpleasant. The only positive possibility would be to always expect things to go badly, and then be positively surprised – but negative expectations are not much fun, and I’d rather not spend too much time wallowing in them.

If I have no expectations, then everything that happens is fresh. I have not pre-lived it in my expectations. If it is good, then the goodness is unexpected, and therefore a greater pleasure. If it is bad, then it’s just one of those things that happen.

Not to mention that it feels like a wasteful way to spend my time! Intentions are useful; preparations likewise. But expectations cannot really lead to anything useful. They create nothing other than more of themselves.