Yesterday in that well-known journal of philosophical studies, popularly known as the AAA magazine, I came across this: “Expectations are the great enemy of happiness.”
But what my esteemed colleague is neglectfully discounting is this: Expectations are so often a source of happiness, in and of themselves.
And consider another of his points: “Travelers with fewer expectations… maintain an attitude of radical acceptance, open to whatever comes their way, good or bad, and as a result have more authentic encounters with the great big world out there.”
For many of us… or some of us… or at least one of us, though, this radical acceptance affords a novel joy for only a brief period of time, with happiness soon giving way to a sense of aimlessness. Then pointlessness. Then futility. Then we are dealing with a full-on depressive episode.
Do not discount the fact that purpose and drive can be true sources of happiness. “Authentic” even.
Tytania 