Hi, I'm Joanne Cary. Welcome back to Embodied Soul, podcast, a multidimensional space intended to support you in living, being and thriving as the embodied soul you are. In this week's episode, I'm going to talk to you about expectations and why you are always getting what you expect, how this impacts your life, and how you can begin to reveal to yourself your underlying expectations, so that you can consciously create the experiences you have. If you're ready to join me, pull up a comfy chair, invite in your Soul and be open to receive exactly what you need to live, be, and thrive as the embodied soul you are.
So us always getting what we expect is something that's been really prevalent in my life most recently. Ever since we've moved to this new location, I’ve seen a really strong contrast between what I expect, how I expect my day to go. How I expect people respond to me. Just my whole living environment. And yet it was so contrasted by people that I have come into contact with since being here. Even looking just at my landlord, there's a lot of things that he says around: This is just how things are. This is just how people act. This is just the quality of workmanship. This is just… and I just had to stop and pause and go. Wow! He's had a lot of challenges in his life and in his experiences, and yet it was so obvious to me that he's creating, he’s attracting to him exactly what he expects.
So some of you may be saying, “Well, how is it that just because I expect something to happen, it's gonna happen like, Are we really that powerful?” And the answer is, Yes, you are. We've covered, and I think it was mastering your thoughts in Episode 3. We talked about the power of our own thought processes in creating our experience. And so if you think of, again a reminder that our thoughts are energetic, and if we are expecting something that's just a thought, you have got playing like a program playing in the background of your being, that is creating what you're expecting. It's your reticular activating system pulling in what you expect to give you your experience of that. And this isn't bad or good. This simply just is. It is about bringing the awareness to what are your underlying expectations for your day, for your life, for your relationships, do you know?
And so let's just ask for a second. So how do you begin to understand what's playing out? And some of the key words that I found are really important, and I'm sure you can think of many more. But this always happens, or I never have this thing go right or this is just how it is. Those types of words, those blanket statements of truth, that we think are true, often come derived from our experiences in our younger lives or through our lives, from our parents, from our teachings, from our culture. And it's beginning to become aware of, and if you think about it, you know, people will often say, “Well, you are. You're a very positive person. You're always seeing the glass is half full.” So are you a glass half full type of person, or are you a glass half empty? That is another indication as to what are you expecting.
So when you wake up in the morning, what are you expecting? Are you expecting a glorious day? Are you expecting things to be easy? Are you expecting things to be hard? Are you expecting people to greet with a smile? Are you expecting them to be the same miserable person, maybe you've experienced in the past?
How are you approaching your day? And you have control of this? It doesn't matter. If you have been someone who has had a… you may have found that you view the class, the glass half empty because you've just become aware of it, and now you get to choose it, if you want to, or you can continue having the experience you're having. Isn't that beautiful? There is no right or wrong in this. It is simply what do you prefer?
And knowing that you have the ability to change any experience you're having, then you can begin to do so. The challenge is when it just continues to lie under, sort of under our consciousness, below the threshold of our awareness, that we think that the world is happening to us. And again we talk about, why are things happening for us? This is bringing to our awareness how we are creating, often unconsciously, through our expectation.
And I want to use just another example. You know, people sometimes have a bad give mechanics a bad rap, and we have a mechanic, and some people have challenges with this mechanic. They will write out. They'll text — Whatsapp is really common where we are right now— and they don't get the response, or they don't get a clear response, or it's just kind of radio silence. And so I needed to take our vehicle in to get the brakes fixed. And it's like, “Oh, you're gonna have a hard time. Never gonna respond. You're gonna see how bad it is.”
And I said, How about we just see what my experience is? Because I knew fundamentally in my, in my body. I knew that I wasn't going to have the same experience that other people were having. And that in itself is an expectation. Do you understand it? The fact that I simply knew that my experience was going to be different because I approach it from an energetic perspective, knowing that if I am expecting it to be an easy, flowing situation, that's positive, that’s expansive, then that's what it's going to be. And sure enough. I sent a Whatsapp text. I got a message back. Within 5 minutes. I was able to take the vehicle in. I arranged the time to get it back. I was able, when I was checking in, to see if the vehicle was ready, I got a response and a thumbs up, and so I went up and got it. It was smooth, it was easy, it was no stress, and yet it could have been completely different, reflecting the experiences that other people have had.
And so be careful when you take in, even what other people's experiences are. Oh, well, this person's really bad, or they've been doing these negative things, or…don’t buy into anyone else's story. Let you have your experiences and understand what the expectations that you have for how you interact with others.
And sort of go through the different areas of your life. Are you expecting that you're going to get up and have an aching back this morning because you're getting old? Are you expecting that you're going to be full of energy when you get up, and that you're greeted in every, at every turn with a positive response from nature, from people in the neighborhood. How are you expecting your relationships to go when you get up in the morning? Are you expecting them to be positive? Are you expecting them to be challenging, hard, difficult? Are you expecting them to be expansive? Are you having? Are you expecting in your life that you're going to be learning and growing or that you're bored and don't really have things that you like to do?
Look at the different areas of your life and see what your expectations are, and ask yourself, “Are they working for me? Are they creating the experience that I want?”
I like joy. I like peace. I like balance, I like expansion, I love joy and play and wonder. Those are the expectations for my day, for my life, for my existence, that I play out. What are you playing out right now? Are you enjoying it? Do you want more of it? What areas would you change? And what expectation would you need to have in order to begin having that new experience? And, conversely, what expectations do you have already that need to shift, that need to be fine tuned in order for you to have a different experience. Again, it’s not right, there's no wrong, there simply is. The question is, is it what you're looking for, is it what you want to be experiencing in your life?
You are always getting what you expect.
You are always getting what you expect.
I'm gonna say that one more time.
You are always getting what you expect.
So what are you expecting?
Take this week. Spend some time really reflecting on what are you expecting, and then make some conscious decisions to choose differently or celebrate yourself, if you are just loving your life. I would love to know how you go with it.
If you've loved this episode of Embodied Soul podcast, please share it, follow, like and leave me a 5-star review. It really does help get the energies out and the messages out to those who need it. And I look forward to seeing you on next week's episode of Embodied Soul.
