Imbalances in Life

Newton's third law of equal and opposite reaction is strictly for material things. Everything else in our lives is distinctly characterised by imbalances. There are unattainable equilibriums which mark the various aspects of our human lives. The ideal state obviously always is the equilibrium and we constantly strive to attain it but not everything is in our hands.

The imbalances are created when expectations weigh in. It occurs when you have a certain level of expectation from a person/event but the "opposite reaction" isn't exactly "equal" to your expectation. These imbalances often are a reason for distress and pain. What we don't realise that the imbalance was mainly created by the high expectations you had.

Over time we make certain assumptions and then take liberties to judge for ourselves what to expect. People and events are a lot deceptive. Things very often are a lot different than what you presume. If you as an individual expect what you do for others to be returned in equal proportions is foolhardy. Everyone has a different yardstick for measurement of your love, respect, trust, honesty or even friendship.

Hoping for a higher spiritual afflatus on others is non-sensible. Keeping touch with reality should be paramount. Remember, not everyone uses the same standard and scale to measure your emotions and feelings.

The imbalances can be turned to our own favour (which isn't the equilibrium but better than getting the short end of the stick), once you reduce how much the expectations weigh in. Happy is the person who expects nothing and hence every time gets more than what he expects. Agreed that it is extremely difficult, sometimes impossible but this is what we should realise before you feel the distress or disappointment.

Rationally analyse those past moments where you felt the pain of not getting what was equal to what you deserved/expected. You would realise that it could have been avoided had you not expected so much to begin with. Lowering the burden of expectations is a slow process but one that keeps you happy for a long time.

"If you expect perfection from other people, your whole life is a series of disappointments, grumbling and complaints. If, on the contrary, you pitch your expectations low, taking folks as the inefficient creatures which they are, you are frequently surprised by having them perform better than you had hoped."