Daily Gratitude: “HAPPINESS is equal to reality minus expectations.”

Isn’t this a different perspective on happiness? I like it though and if we examine it, we’ll see that it’s true.

So often we hope for (expect) something to turn out a certain way. We then focus on that outcome. If things happen in a positive and good way BUT don’t end up happening like we expected them to, then the degree of happiness we have is muted compared to what it would have been if we hadn’t had any hopes or expectations.

Can you remember any instances in your life where this played out? I can.

Let’s say you’re really looking forward to a vacation so you can rest a lot and spend time with your family. You see yourself out hiking or sitting on the beach or shopping in quaint stores.

Turns out it rained or snowed or was cold the whole time you were on vacation. You didn’t get any time hiking or sitting on the beach. The vacation didn’t meet your expectations. But wait a minute – it didn’t meet all your expectations but the first thing I wrote above when I mentioned the vacation was that you could rest and spend time with your family. You got to do all that and maybe got even more of each since you couldn’t go do the other stuff. If you didn’t let your expectations rule your happiness, you’d be really happy with the results. But because of the expectations, your mind discounts the good parts and your vacation is deemed “not so good”, “horrible” or maybe “OK”.

Remember this the next time you set expectations on something. Anything.