Disappointment

I want to mention disappointment here because it is so often mistaken for sadness. Disappointment stems from unfulfilled expectations. You expect things to go a certain way, and they don’t. You are emotionally attached to the outcome of how you think things should be. You are deluded by your own illusions and fantasies. You feel let down and perhaps even betrayed. You feel disillusioned.

The ego views this as a loss. There is an element of sadness to disappointment, but there is mostly fear. You may fight the fact that you have no real control over anything but yourself and your choices. Perhaps, you cover this fear with anger or feelings of victimhood.

You may feel dried up inside. The well has run dry. You feel no emotional vitality, change, or movement. Your disappointment may lead to physical fatigue and even illness. Your focus on this negative emotion creates more setbacks in your life. Your disappointment creates passivity. You either feel stuck, or you spiral downward.

You need to accept the fleeting nature of beauty and perfection. There is an ebb and flow to all of life. With every day, there is a night, and after the darkness, the light always comes. Nothing is permanent.

 Your Emotional Barometer

When you truly understand disappointment, it becomes part of your emotional barometer.

·         Pick a topic where you experience a lot of disappointment.

·         Be honest with yourself. If you pick a topic you don’t have much charge on, this will not be a good test for you.

·         At one end of the barometer you have disappointment and on the other is peace with numbers one through ten in between.

·         Where do you see the dial land (one through ten) on the gauge of your emotion.

After you have done some healing around this issue you just saw reflected on your emotional barometer, do the test again on yourself to see how much you have healed and grown. Where you are on the gauge will tell you your level of emotional security and trust in yourself and the process of life.

You may ask, “Does that mean I shouldn’t set goals and work toward them?” Of course, you can. Your heart is seeking fulfillment through the expression of your desires and your life purpose. So, set your goals, work harder at realizing them, but also work harder at letting go of your emotional attachment to the outcome.

When disappointment comes up for you, you know you have become attached to your expectations about how you think people or things should be. You are not in present time. You are in either the past or the future, in fear of letting go and fully embracing the present moment just as it is.

Live in the present moment. Self-mastery comes from being grounded in the present reality. Your success grows out of being down to earth. Trust the process, and adapt to the ever-changing flow of the river of life. Let your disappointment reveal your state of emotional and spiritual maturity.

Peace, Maren