of hope and expectation.

 

people always say expectation hurts. i'm not sure whether to agree with the premise or not haha.

 

[forgot where the source was]

 

do you know there are differences between hope and expectation?

 

i like the definitions from dr gerald may from his book, the awakened heart:

 

 Hope is the wish for something to happen. Hope is flexible. It is alive. It responds to all situations instead of battling against the ones that appear to be opposite. Hope admits reality, always acknowledging what is, but never resigning itself to what is. Hope allows other to grow. It desires good for another, but gives them room to change over time. Hope is not limited by previous experience. We can hope for more than what we know. We can hope for something better. Our imaginations and dreams influence our hopes. Since hope admits uncertainty, it does not die when it goes unmet. A hope deferred does not kill the soul. We may need to adjust our hopes, but we can always keep hoping. Hope helps us to keep moving forward. Hope fills us with life.

 

on the other hand,

 

Expectation is a rigid clinging to unreal belief. Expectation is demanding exactly what we want to happen regardless of what is actually happening. Expectation is typically fixed and frozen. It is inflexible and rigid. It is unable to give or to bend or to change. Sadly, expectations are limited to our previous experiences. We are unable to expect something that we haven’t seen before. We cannot expect something better than what we know. The worst part of expectations is what happens when we hold onto them. They infect and overwhelm us, like a virus. They consume us like the plague. We are unable to give them up. We are unable to let go. Expectation influences our behavior and attitudes. It affects how we see the world. And then how we respond to it.

 

hence, the picture. may Allah always guide us all the way. ameen ameen ameen.

 

diary: do you know that rasulullah saw loved to name his belongings? his swords, horses, camels etc. by the way hope is the name of one of my thumb drive. HOPE.