Chapter 64: What Do You Expect?
It is time once again to Stew on this! Expectancy is a choice.
In the decade and a half that I was hanging out a lot with Jim Sigafoose, on several occasions someone would stop him and say something like, “I am seeing 120 patients a week and I want to see 300.”
Sig would look at them and reply, “No, you don’t.”
He or she, looking either deflated or indignant, would say, “But I do want to see 300!” Sig would reply, “If you really wanted to see 300, you’d be seeing 300.”
Come to think of it, before Sig and I became friends, I was very likely one of those same people!
Another of my mentors, Dick Santo, shed some light on the truth of Sig’s words when he would say, “We do not get what we want, or even what we need; we get what we expect.”
Sigafoose was reminding us that we may have wanted to see 300, but were expecting 120.
The word expect literally means “to look out for thoroughly.” When I am looking out for something thoroughly, I am more likely to see it, perceive it, and experience it.
Universal Intelligence is a field of unlimited possibilities. When I look out for something thoroughly, focus on it, imagine it, and anticipate its arrival, I am much more likely to “get” it.
In wanting 300 but expecting 120 I was undoubtedly looking out more thoroughly at the reasons I could NOT see 300; the obstacles, the doubts, the imposter syndrome, the imagined extra responsibility, etc.
My transformation, with his help, began when I actually started to look out more thoroughly for what I wanted instead of what I did not want.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Ask and it is given, seek and you shall find.” I take this to mean the same thing.
Of course I cannot presume to know what Jesus meant, or what Dick Santo meant for that matter. But I like to believe that neither of them was talking about material stuff like things, people, numbers, or bank accounts. Rather, the principle they were proposing is more about the states of consciousness that lie in and through the material things.
It is about my heart’s desires that are the true reasons I want material things to begin with. When I look deeply, I know I want them for the love, peace, joy and abundance I believe they will bring.
So, I get what I expect, but I make a distinction here between specific material expectations and a feeling of expectancy for the deeper, more eternal things like love, peace, joy and abundance.
Expectations are a head job; expectancy is found in the heart.
Expectations are outside in; expectancy is an inside job.
Expectations are about doing and having; expectancy is about being and becoming.
And since expectancy is an inside job, it behooves me to “inspect” often, so I can check up on my being and becoming.
Expectations can lead to disappointment and resentment when they are not met. They can easily have me focused on what is wrong or missing, what might be wrong or missing, or what was wrong or missing.
The feeling of expectancy, on the other hand, reminds me of a song from the Broadway show, West Side Story, called “Something’s Coming.” Part of the chorus goes, “Something’s coming, I don’t know what it is, but it is gonna be great.”
This is always true, because life, Innate Intelligence and I are always great. And so are you. Greater than we tend to think. Innate is unlimited, so I can always expect more growth and unfolding and never be disappointed in that expectancy, because that is what Innate is always seeking to do within me.
I did not go to ChiroEurope this past May with the expectation of getting an epiphany to return to chiropractic practice. But I did bring an expectancy to continue to grow and evolve, knowing I still had something to contribute to chiropractic and to the world.
Events and circumstances in life do not always meet my expectations. But even in the midst of grief, loss, disappointment or worry, I can hold an expectancy that whenever I look for joy, I will find it; whenever I quiet my mind, I will find peace; whenever I choose love, I will experience it right then and there!
Expectancy is a choice. It is a choice to actually look more thoroughly for the good in life and for what I most desire. It is an invitation for me to breathe deeply, hear the voice of Innate in my heart, and know I am not separate from it. It is an intention to meet life right where I am and right where it is; knowing I have everything within me that I require. It is a decision to use everything that happens to unfold more love.
Perhaps even more accurate than “I get what I expect” is “I get what I inspect.” I get what I look for thoroughly within myself. I know this is true because the things I most desire are not things; they are the essential truth of who and what I am.
They are always there within me. So, once I find them there, I can (and do) fully expect to find them out there, too.
Stew on that, and I shall see you next time.
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