expect

"The argument goes that in order to give children a more positive sense of themselves, we must shield them from the negatives of life. This gives children a false sense of reality and unattainable expectations. This nonsense creates people who will be unhappy and unable to cope as adults. It's better to expose them to life and to teach them to cope with the negatives in a positive way." - Irving Leemon

To be pregnant.

To presume; suppose.

To consider likely or certain.

To consider reasonable or due.

To consider obligatory; require.

Consider obligatory; request and expect.

Regard something as probable or likely.

To look forward to the birth of one's child.

To look forward to the probable occurrence or appearance of.

To look for (mentally); to look forward to, as to something that is believed to be about to happen or come; to have a previous apprehension of, whether of good or evil; to look for with some confidence; to anticipate.

Expect is a mental act and always has a reference to the future, to some coming event; as an individual expects to die, or he expects to survive. Think and believe have reference to the past and present, as well as to the future; as I think the mail has arrived; I believe he came home yesterday, that he is at home now. There is a not uncommon use of expect, which is a confusion of the two; as, I expect the mail has arrived; I expect he is at home. This misuse should be avoided. Await is a physical or moral act. We await that which, when it comes, will affect us personally. We expect what may, or may not, interest us personally.

"Over the last three decades, Danes have higher rates of contentment with life than any other Western country.

Their key to contentment?

Low expectations.

Danes know they don't come from the largest, blondest or most temperate nation on Earth.

Danes don't expect to be big winners of any game.

So when good things happen, Danes are that much happier.

This is the philosophy I've been living for years.

It's why I go to every party expecting to have a miserable time and leave for every vacation betting it will rain.

These scenarios are rarely realized, so my life generally floats along on a steady undercurrent of joyous relief.

That's the power of negative thinking.

I fervently believe there's such a thing as being too positive, especially when expectation gets confused with hope.

Americans seem especially unable to separate these ideas, and for good reason.

Our entire ethos is wrapped up in the myth of turning dreams into realities, of constantly reaching for higher goals, of never settling.

Obviously, this can-do spirit is what turned us into the Earth's most powerful nation.

It's still worth remembering that the phrase -"the pursuit of happiness" wasn't originally connected with the terms "life" and "liberty."

Thomas Jefferson's wording of the Declaration of Independence was inspired by the work of 17th century British philosopher John Locke, whose social contract outlined rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of property."

It was Thomas Jefferson who substituted "happiness" for "property," saddling centuries of Americans with the notion that happiness is not only a realistic expectation, it goes hand in hand with life itself.

We've been taking John Locke's advice all along by relentlessly pursuing property and confusing its acquisition with happiness.

I've always thought we'd be better served by a line like "the pursuit of contentment" or, better yet, "life, liberty and hope."

That's because pursuing happiness as a social contract sounds a lot like a mandate to set pie-in-the-sky goals and then feel cheated when they don't come to pass.

Hope, on the other hand, has some poetry to it.

Hope acknowledges human desires while respecting life's uncontrollable forces.

Hope is downsized from the entitlement inherent in expectation.

Do we hope our children will wind up in Ivy League colleges, or do we expect them to?

Did we bank on fivefold appreciation when we bought the house with a 0% ARM, or did we just have our fingers crossed?

Did the president hope military intervention would bring peace to Iraq, or did he . . . oh, never mind.

It's interesting how the maxim "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst" now sounds quaint.

It even suggests bad karma.

But thats the problem with positive thinking.

It skips right over simple contentment and careens headlong into high expectations." - Meghan Daum

"Unhappiness comes about not only by unrealistic expectations but from lacking a full sense of one's own capacities and limitations." - Peggy Aylsworth Levine

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This web site is not a commercial web site and is presented for educational purposes only.

This website defines a new religious ideology to which its author adheres. The author feels that the falsification of reality outside personal experience has created a populace unable to discern propaganda from reality and that this has been done purposefully by an international corporate cartel through their agents who wish to foist a corrupt version of reality on the human race. Religious intolerance occurs when any group refuses to tolerate religious practices, religious beliefs or persons due to their religious ideology. This web site marks the founding of the religion aptly named The Truth of the Way of Life - a rational religion based on reason which requires no leap of faith, accepts no tithes, has no supreme leader, no church buildings and in which each and every individual is encouraged to develop a personal relation with God through the pursuit of the knowledge of reality in the hope of curing the spiritual corruption that has enveloped the human spirit. The tenets of The Truth of the Way of Life are spelled out in detail on this web site by the author. Violent acts against individuals due to their religious beliefs in America is considered a “hate crime.”

This web site in no way condones violence. To the contrary the intent here is to reduce the violence that is already occurring due to the international corporate cartels desire to control the human race. The international corporate cartel already controls the world central banking system, mass media worldwide, the industrial military entertainment complex of America and is responsible for the collapse of morals, the elevation of self-centered behavior and the destruction of global ecosystems. Civilization is based on cooperation. Cooperation does not occur at the point of a gun.

American social mores and values have declined precipitously over the last century as the corrupt international cartel has garnered more and more power. This power rests in the ability to deceive the populace in general through mass media by pressing emotional buttons which have been preprogrammed into the population through prior mass media psychological operations. The results have been the destruction of the family and the destruction of social structures that do not adhere to the corrupt international elites vision of a perfect world. Through distraction and coercion the direction of thought of the bulk of the population has been directed toward solutions proposed by the corrupt international elite that further consolidates their power and which further their purposes.

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