Expecting something to happen makes it more likely to happen. It’s not a definite, but it’s certainly more likely. The more you can genuinely expect something, the more likely you’ll get it. But that’s the key word: Genuinely.
You have to really believe, and also believe that you
believe. There can’t be any
questioning. Will this happen? Should this happen? I sure hope
this happens. Those can’t be thoughts in
your mind. Genuinely expecting something
means it’s natural to expect it. It
means you have a right to expect it. It usually
means that a precedent has already been set, and your expectations are part of
that precedent.
Birds never wonder if they’ll be fed. They never wonder if they’ll find the seeds
or insects or plants they need to eat.
They just find them. They expect
them to be there, and they are
there. Their expectations are
genuine. How can food not be available when eating is a
requirement of life? So, of course, the
food is there. They have a need for it. They have a right to expect it, and their
expectations are fulfilled. Every
time. Every year. Since the dawn of time, their expectations
have been met.
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| Expecting. |
This isn’t to say that an animal can’t suffer hardship or
hunger. Occasionally, it does
happen. Usually, it’s due to unforeseen
natural disasters or, more often, mankind--another natural disaster. Yes, animal habitats do shrink, but for the
most part animals are well fed. Yes,
species do go extinct all the time, but if it’s not due to mankind, it’s
usually just due to natural selection and the natural course of things. All in all, animals are well cared for.
Is it because they’re “animals” or is it because they expect
nothing less? Why can’t mankind be that
way? There are over 36 billion acres of
land on the Earth, and over 7 billion of them are “arable,” which means those
acres are suitable for growing crops--not swamps, not forestland, not cities, not
mountainous areas, etc. Of course, food
grows naturally in wild areas outside the 7 billion acres, and it also grows
abundantly in the ocean. The 7 billion
acres are just cropland. That’s about an
acre a person. You can grow a lot of food on one arable acre of land.
There sure is a lot out there on this big Earth. We get to feeling that it’s small sometimes
because the media portrays it that way--sort of like we’re all just one big
neighborhood block party. But the Earth
is pretty darn big, and even though there are 7 billion people here, that’s really not so very much to the old Earth.
There’s plenty here.
I’ve noticed, though, that we expect lack. Very often, we expect that there is not
enough to go around. Maybe we expect it
because we’re told that by the media.
Maybe there are people out there who have a vested interest in making us
think that there’s not enough out there for everyone. So we expect less and we get less. And the less we get, the more we confirm our
“expectations.” It becomes a vicious
cycle.
I think we should be like the birds. Am I foolish for that? Will someone just leave a big plate of food
outside for me as I leave for the birds in my bird feeder? That probably won’t happen, but that doesn’t
mean there isn’t a whole lot out there.
There’s so much out there, I can’t even wrap my head around it.
Am I just a foolish and spoiled American for thinking
that? No, I’m not. And I’ve certainly had my share of “lack” in
life. Some of that is because I expected
lack. Some of it is because others
expected it for me, and I bought into what they were saying.
There’s a lot out there, more than enough for every single
person on the planet to live in sheer abundance. But first we have to change the way we think
about it. We have to dissect our
thoughts and find out how they got into our head in the first place and whether
or not we want them to stay there. Then
we have to change what we expect out of life.
We have to change what we expect. We have to change what we believe. We have to know our rights--our inherent rights, not our “Bill of Temporary
Privileges.”* If anyone tells us differently
(and we can fully expect they will), well, we know the poison they’re
selling. We don’t have to buy it.
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* A phrase coined by the late comedian George Carlin.
