Hello and welcome.
This is a journal reflection practice.
Together we will move through a series of prompts of reflections.
Today's theme is expectations and disappointment,
Allowing yourself to arrive,
Welcoming yourself,
Your whole self into this exploration.
This isn't about having all of the answers.
This isn't about performing or editing.
This is an invitation to really meet yourself,
To deepen your self-understanding,
Perhaps to recognize some patterns,
Really begin to get to know yourself.
And those words expectations and disappointment where do those words live or land in your body?
Perhaps the weight of expectations carried on your shoulders.
That burden of disappointment feeling heavy and sinking your shoulders down.
You might like to explore a shoulder shrug together,
Rising the shoulders up,
Letting them glide up towards the ears,
Find an inhale and release,
Let go.
Maybe just a fraction of that expectation of that disappointment sinks and settles.
So the first prompt and reflection I'd love to offer is this.
How do I usually react or respond to a disappointment?
How do I usually react or respond to a disappointment?
Is there a familiar story that arises?
Taking as much time as you need on each of these prompts,
Pausing the recording anytime,
Being really gentle,
Bringing a sense of openness,
Bringing a sense of intrigue.
What patterns are there in my response,
My reaction to disappointment?
This always happens to me.
I'm not enough.
Maybe there is a familiar story or narrative,
A habitual way of engaging with disappointment.
You might like to move into what sensations or emotions arise in your body?
When you feel disappointment.
It's okay not to know,
Not to have the answers.
The magic is really in the desire to explore and to discover.
Is there a particular sensation or emotion that arises when I feel disappointed?
Do I blame myself?
Does my inner critic have something to say?
Again,
There might be some themes,
Some patterns.
You could explore here some useful or supportive things to help you navigate those feelings.
A starting point might be to actually allow yourself to be disappointed.
To feel those emotions,
Allow yourself to be disappointed,
To honour it,
To acknowledge it.
Instead of pushing it away or critiquing ourselves for having a response.
How might I allow that feeling,
Emotion to be felt,
To let it be processed?
And how can I begin to practice being more encouraging and understanding with myself?
There's the possibility of bringing to mind a scenario.
When a disappointment turned out to be a gift in disguise.
When something didn't work out quite how you had hoped.
But with the fullness of time that disappointment led to the creation or experience of something you could not have foreshadowed.
It's okay if a situation or scenario doesn't come to mind.
It might be something to be on the lookout for.
When things don't go quite to plan.
What other possibilities does that end up creating,
Does that end up inviting?
To have an expectation of something working out a certain way.
It's a signpost that we care,
We are invested.
But am I attached to a particular outcome?
And that attachment to the outcome leading to that feeling of disappointment.
How might I begin to see the value in the process,
In the experience,
In the discovery?
And it is okay,
It is beautiful to care,
To have things that we desire.
Developing that sense of discernment.
When am I becoming entrenched and attached to an outcome?
And how might I begin to balance that desire,
That ambition,
That hope?
How can I balance that with allowing things to transpire,
To progress?
How can I begin to balance that with a sense of trust?
A sense of trust that things work out how they are meant to.
This doesn't always mean that things work out how we want them to.
But things work out how they are meant to.
And maybe,
Just maybe,
That disappointment,
That expectation that has not been met is opening the door to a possibility that might not even be on your radar.
What might it be teaching me?
What doorway is it opening?
What might it be like to let myself lean into that possibility?
Allowing yourself to reflect,
To write,
To ponder.
To let these contemplations really percolate.
There isn't a need to have all of the answers.
As we begin to say goodbye for now.
Offering a gentle affirmation.
You might also like to create one for yourself.
But if you like writing in your journal or even saying to yourself internally or out loud I am learning to trust that things work out as they're meant to.
I am learning to trust that things work out how they are meant to.
I am here and I am learning to be with myself.
I am here and I am learning to be with myself.
All of who I am is welcome here.
Inviting you to close the practice with a gentle breath in.
And a gentle breath out.
Thank you so much for journaling with me.
Wishing you many more moments of feeling connected,
Feeling tethered,
Feeling whole.
Just as you are.
