Expectation vs Hope

So I had a conversation with a very good friend this past Wednesday and he got me to challenge my thinking further on the lesson of expectations. You can read my first post where I discuss my thoughts on when they are allowed and the repercussions of when expectations aren't met with other people, or yourself, or from a result of something. I wrote a second post on people's responses to expectations where they brought up a few more topics relating to expectations.

So while talking with my friend, we brought up "hope" a lot. And from what I am taught as a martial artist and what I teach my students, you should ALWAYS have hope. Hope brings us motivation to do what we need, the faith behind what we do, and when in times of darkness come upon us, hope gives us that shed of light that we need.

When you think things are impossible, or that there is no chance to accomplish something, that is when we need hope the most! And it is hope that allows us to find the solutions we could not find before, or the ones that were hidden. Hope is the determination to not give up on something. I teach my students that HOPE stands for:

HOPE = Hold On Possibilities Exist

I learned that years ago from a friend of Lisa's. But a thought came to my mind. Is there is a difference between hope with expectations? Is there a difference? I want to believe that hope is different but expectation but I am not too sure. I thought about this during one point in my conversation with my friend Wednesday when he said "I don't want to keep my hopes up." People have the notion that if we hope, we will get hurt. I must beg to differ. Because of what I just said here on HOPE, I must contradict this idea that keeping hopes up hurt us. However, expectations are a different story because when you EXPECT something to be a certain way or for some result to show up, then we get disappointed and hurt. 

So what happens when we don't for what we hoped for? What's the difference between when you don't get what we expect vs what we don't get when we hope for something? In my opinion, I believe when we hope, there are are more apt to bring into your life what it is you want because there is the underlying power of determination that comes with it. I don't think expectation is the same. When I think about expectations, I believe outside forces have to meet them for us to be satisfied. With hope, that is a power that lies within us. As long as we have hope, and hope can grow when many people hope together, I find it to be a more positive attractive force than expectation.

So I think I just found the connection between the two. Expectation and hope are both attractive forces. However, expectations we rely on outside forces to meet, and many times when they are not met, disappointment and hurt sets in. Hope, is a more positive force that comes from inside of our very being, and when hope are not met, I believe we are turned into a different direction to find a better hope. Expectations do not transfigure as positively as hope does. Am I contradicting myself? It is very thought provoking. What do you think?

Yours in service,

ANDREW TRENTO