WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?
Great disappointment can come from unrealistic expectations.
I recently noted that the ex-wife of Robert Lucas, the 1995 winner of
the Nobel Memorial Prize in economics, received half of his $1 million
award, though they were divorced at the time! As it happens, when they
were divorcing in 1988, she had her lawyer add one tiny clause to the
property settlement: "Wife shall receive 50 percent of any Nobel
prize." More amazing is the fact that her clause had an expiration
date: October 31, 1995. He won the prize on October 10. Ironically,
Lucas was honored for an economic theory he called, "Rational
Expectations."
I admittedly know nothing about Lucas' theory of rational
expectations in economics. But I do know something about irrational
expectations among people. And I know that irrational expectations can
cause untold disappointment.
Like the expectation that someone else will make you happy. This is
irrational. Nobody can make you happy. That is your job. If you expect
it to happen, you will soon be disappointed.
Or the expectation that things should be, for the most part,
relatively easy and problem free. This, too, is irrational. Bad things
happen. If you expect things to be easy, you will be in for serious
disappointment.
A good question to ask when you are disappointed is, "What did I
expect?" Maybe your disappointment is simply the result of irrational
expectations. Come to see how your life is not at all jinxed, but
relatively normal, and that you will likely work through your present
difficulty and be happy again, and you may start feeling better
immediately.
We can miss out on a lot of happiness because we were expecting
something that never could happen. And we can be in for a lot of
happiness just by changing those unrealistic expectations!
Steve Goodier
Publisher@... is a professional
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