Would you like to play a fun game? A game that would help you to predict the future? Something that would make you feel more hopeful about your life expectations? It’s a little game about what you believe you will experience. What do you expect? Do you have any control over it? Is it good? Is it bad?
Get two sheets of paper. Find a black, a green and a red pen. Get comfortable and allow yourself time to consider what is happening in your life. Think about your dreams and aspirations. Contemplate any unsolved problem or dilemmas. Be real with yourself.
Now take your black pen and write down ten things that you expect to happen in the future. You decide when that future is. Give yourself a time frame. Are you looking at your expectations in the next month or within five years’ time? Maybe it is a short term list of expectations. Maybe it has a more long term focus. Examples might be: Ask for a raise. Lose 10 pounds. Go to school. End a relationship or begin one. Recover from an illness.
When your list is complete, take your green pen and circle all the positive events you are anticipating. Consider these events and allow yourself to feel the positive emotions the imagery evokes. Imagery is a powerful tool to direct your life’s path.
Now take your red pen and draw a circle around all the expectations that are of a negative nature. Take a moment to consider what makes it feel negative. Is there a way that you could make yourself aware of any positive aspects of this negative expectation? For instance, you may have to suffer the pain and discomfort of a root canal procedure. Unpleasant for certain. But is it negative? No. Because the result is that you have done what was necessary to save your tooth. A very positive outcome.
When you have completed your circles, take the next step. Using the green pen, put an “A” next to the event that you can control or create. This is an event where you can be Active. Now consider the events over which you have little or no control. Using the red pen, put a “P” next to these events. This is an event where you are not able to actively influence the outcome. Consider that you must be Passive. It’s like being at a traffic light. Green is go – move forward; do something. Red is stop – stay waiting until you are given the signal to move.
Do you have more positive than negative expectations? Are there more green active circles than passive red circles surrounding your future experiences? Of course you should have more positive than negative expectations. And it would be best to recognize your ability to be more active than to be passive in creating your life.
Give yourself some inner time to reflect on what you have determined to be the negative or passive events. During this time, you may find that you are able to change your perceptions about your expectations. In doing so, you may realize that you have the ability to let go of disappointments. You also have the ability to raise the levels of your optimism and hope. Remember – you get what you expect!