Have you come across the idea: You get what you expect.

Here are a couple quotes from reputable people, that seem to express this idea.

“It is no use to desire a thing unless you expect to get it, either in part or in full. Desire without expectation is idle wishing or dreaming. Desire will put you in touch with the inner world of causes and connect you by invisible means with the substance of the thing desired; then, continuous expectation is necessary to bring it into a reality in your life.” - Working with the Law by Raymond Holliwell

“The law of self-fulfilling prophecy says that you get what you expect.” -- Mark Victor Hansen e-letter excerpt

The idea being presented is: One MUST expect some good thing to happen, in order for it to happen.

For example, Holliwell said, “It is NO USE to desire a thing unless you expect to get it, either in part or in full.” [Emphasis mine]. In essence he said it’s USELESS “to desire a thing unless you expect to get it,…”

If one were to put this in the form of a principle it might be: You MUST Expect Success. Or: You Must EXPECT Success.

My study, observation and experience tell me, this is NOT exactly true. See if this makes sense, from your study, observation and experience.

Have you ever gotten some good thing (or even bad thing) that was totally unexpected? It sure seems to me I have. The previous promotion and raise and two bonuses I got at work were COMPLETELY unexpected by me. I didn’t have a clue they were coming. In fact, since we were flat out told “all raises are off due to the economy” I had made up my mind that I could, if needed, create money from some other source. Yet, I still got the completely-unexpected-by-me promotion, raise and bonuses.

Why am I going on about this? Because, you (whomever might read this) like me, may have struggled with this idea. Maybe you have felt you weren’t going to get something you want because you couldn’t muster up the feeling of EXPECTING it.

I want to express my current opinion on this, which is: Maybe you DON’T have to EXPECT some good thing to happen, in order for it to happen. Maybe you just need to do SOMETHING – vibrationally or feeling-wise – to put yourself in harmony or alignment with what you want. (I’m going to try to illustrate this with some stories below.)

For example, when we were told “all raises are off” I remember, because of the metaphysics I’d been studying, I immediately thought to myself, “No problem. The Universe or God is my supply. I can get money from anywhere.” And this way of thinking allowed me to be and feel completely peaceful, calm and happy with the announcement. (While many of my co-workers started complaining and arguing about how unfair it was.)

So, it seems to me, what I did was, I went with thoughts that allowed me to be harmonious to or in alignment with prosperity. So, although I completely did NOT expect it to come as it did, it came anyway.

PAUSE,… Well,… what do you know? As I wrote that last line, it came to me. I WAS expecting good. I just wasn’t expecting it in the way it came.

So, maybe we DO need to EXPECT good to happen, in order for it to happen.

But WAIT!!

I DO have some stories to share, where a few people did NOT seem to have ANY expectation of good happening,… and it still happened. Consider the following stories.

The first is of a woman named Leslie Householder. (This isn’t verbatim, just as close as I can remember it.)

At one point in her life things were just going very badly for her. She needed money she didn’t have, and had a family to take care of. She tried everything she could think of to get the money she wanted, looking for work, telling everyone she needed work, saying she was willing to do anything.

I don’t recall how long she went on like this. It might have been days, but I think it was weeks, with no apparent results.

Finally, she got so exhausted she became drained, and just to give herself a little relief (that’s how she put it) she went to her bedroom and lay down, and just fantasized about how nice it would be if everything worked out somehow. She said she just allowed herself, on purpose, to fantasize and completely enjoy her fantasy. She figured she wasn’t hurting anyone, she was just giving herself a break.

I think she said it was the next day, or the day after. Things just started coming up unexpectedly. Work. Money from here and there. Her husband, who had also been looking for work, suddenly got work.

This woman is now a prosperity teacher, but she said, at the time, she didn’t know why it happened, why her ‘luck’ suddenly changed. And, because she didn’t know, it wasn’t soon afterwards that things started to go down hill again. But this time she started following her hunches. She had a hunch to study more about how life might really work. Through study she realized that, before that little ‘lucky streak’ she had, she recalled how she had let herself fantasize and completely FEEL how it might be like, to have everything somehow work out.

Now, consider this point carefully: She didn’t do it to MAKE it happen. She didn’t fantasize with the intent of creating an EXPECTATION. She just did it to experience some relief from all the struggle and effort she had been putting in.

But now, after some study, she felt she understood why the ‘lucky streak’ happened, and why it again ‘went away.’ At the time she first fantasized, she, as Wattles puts it in Chapter 8 of SOGR, went into “the full enjoyment of the things” she wanted. She just totally immersed herself in a fantasy of having everything working out, everyone happy, no problems. (She didn't do it with expectations, just for the wonderful feelings and RELIEF it gave her.)

And she understood now, why her ‘lucky streak’ went away. It went away because, she soon went back to her usual up-until-then pattern of fear-based action. She was used to thinking, "What if XX goes wrong? We need to prepare for that. Maybe I need to work harder, work more. Maybe we’ll need the money again." Worry, fretting, being anxious.

But now, after studying prosperity, she experimented with a new way of going ‘at’ life. She experimented with the concept of first imagining and living fully the ideal dream conditions she wanted, just like she had done before her first ‘lucky streak.’ And it worked. Good things again started ‘showing up’ that she could not explain, except with hindsight, after the fact.

Now, she's gotten so good at it, she has a very good life, and she teaches this stuff.

And here’s Story Two, to illustrate how EXPECTATION may NOT be necessary: A Soldier’s Story

During WW II German soldiers were captured by the Russians and sent to makeshift Siberian prison camps. Hidden away hundreds of miles away from any sort of civilization these prisoners had no hope. Even if they could escape they had no reason to. It was seemingly obvious that no one could survive the countless miles of harsh empty freezing snow covered space to get to any sort of safe haven.

As it was, before the war one of the soldiers had visited Los Angeles, California. It was a fond memory and wonderful time for him, a time before the war and all the fighting.

Now, in this desolate prison, to while away the time and simply just to forget the condition he was in, every spare moment and every night he would imagine himself walking down a certain street in Los Angeles, arm in arm with an attractive young lady. He would live in that vision, feeling the warmth of the sun, noticing the streets lined with palm trees, enjoying the company of the attractive young lady as he strolled along. And, although hungry and cold, he would play with this vision until it became so real to him that he would fall asleep peacefully with this vision in his mind. He did this every night.

And, of course, every day he would still awaken to the harsh, cold prison reality that confronted him.

Now, like the other prisoners, he made no plans to escape; it was considered hopeless. But the pain and hopelessness grew with each day. Some of the men stopped eating. A man hung himself. And then another. Living had become pointless.

As it was, one day before going out for the day’s labor, as they were counting the prisoners – just like they always did – this man noticed that the guard miscounted. He counted not 47 prisoners, but 46. Now he knew this was his chance. He could escape and no one would even miss him until maybe a week or weeks later. Still, he thought, “What’s the point? No one can make it to any civilization.” But, he thought, “If I stay I die anyway.” The man decided to make his escape.

The story went on to tell of one after another miraculous occurrence until finally, the man made it through the hundreds of miles of cold and desolation to freedom. And, here’s the clincher.

After the war, the man made it back to Los Angeles and met a lovely woman – just like the one he had imagined -- whom he married. And he got to take exactly that stroll that he had imagined so many times when he was a prisoner without any hope.

Now, here, to me, is what’s interesting. When the man fantasized in the camp, he didn’t do it because he had hope. There was no hope. He didn't do it because he believed. He didn’t believe. He had no reason to believe. He didn’t have any faith. He had absolutely no reason to believe or have faith. But, simply to experience bits and shreds of peace and comfort, he created a fantasy out of an experience he’d had, and imagined it as real as he could make it, over and over and over.

And what happened? A guard miscounted. And he noticed. Who could predict such a thing happening? Certainly this soldier didn’t. (Do you see how we often can’t possibly know the HOW of whatever it is we want, until it just ‘shows up’?)

One more story, to illustrate how EXPECTATION may NOT be needed.

Multimillionaire marketing guru, Frank Kern, had at one point in his life, reached a very low point in his life. He says: “It was a very unpleasant, an intensely empty feeling. It really sucked, so you know,.. I hope no one ever gets to that.

So, I sat down and said, well alright, instead of just sitting around being unhappy I’ll write down what a Perfect Day would be like. And I was like, I’m not even going to write out all these goals. I’m just going to write out, in Present Tense, exactly what I would be doing if this were a Perfect Average Day of my life. So, I did it, and forgot about it.

So, I was like, I did it and thought, ‘Ok, that was kinda nice, you know. I got myself into that state for a little while. I kind of felt like I had arranged some things in my brain somehow. You know, like when you have a ton of stuff you have to do, and then you make a list?” (Then, he breathes a heavy sigh of relief, emphasizing how it felt like lifting a burden off, by clarifying it on paper. Then he goes on.)

So, I wrote all that stuff out, and then uh, nine months later I had moved all away across the country to Southern California, a place I’d never been ever,.. just like randomly popped into my head, which I’ve completely fallen in love with, paradise on Earth. And I had bought literally a dream home, you know, and was happy and had taken up sport surfing, which I’m intensely passionate about, which I’ve wanted to do since I was little.

And uh, it never dawned on me that the life I had penned out in making that document describing my Perfect Day matched IDENTICALLY to what I had written down. So it was like completely identical, and I would have never known that to this day unless I had not opened up a box when I was moving and found the note that I had written that on.

So, I was like, “Oh I remember this thing,..” (he pauses and then says) “I’m a horrible record keeper. I don’t have computer files. I just have these journals and notebooks with all kinds of schemes in them, like, I’ll write something down in one and forget about it, and write something down in another,... So I was like, “Maybe there’s some good stuff in here,” and I found it and I thought, “NO WAY!! This is unbelievable.” It was like, to the thing. I had described what I wanted my shower to look like,… I have the same shower. But none of that was conscious in my mind. It ‘just happened.’ [UNEXPECTEDLY?!?]

So, I’m a believer in this stuff, weird as it sounds.” From: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RU38mkE7vY (1:48 – 3:45)

So, my question: Do we need to EXPECT good to happen, or not? Can good come to us, simply because we have intensely imagined it and felt it as a reality?

By the way, I’m not saying DON’T create positive expectations if you can. I think if you CAN consciously do that it ought to be helpful.

"Expect your every need to be met, expect the answer to every problem, expect abundance on every level, expect to grow spiritually. You are not living by human laws. Expect miracles and see them take place. Hold ever before you the thought of prosperity and abundance, and know that doing so sets in motion forces that will bring it into being." ~ Eileen Caddy

I’m just saying, it seems to me that ‘specific positive expectations for certain desirable outcomes may not be NECESSARY for those outcomes to take place.’

Abraham-Hicks quotes:

“Here is a process. Some say it is a trick that works. It's not a trick. It's a utilization of the Laws of the Universe. Remember that your goal is to find an object of attention that makes you feel good while you find it. So, what you are wanting to do is look for objects of attention to which you can flow an Energy of appreciation. Now, here's the reason that this is sneaky. By choosing an object of attention that causes pure positive Energy to flow through you, guess what happens to the vessel through which the pure positive Energy is flowing? You thrive.”

“You can move much more swiftly and effectively toward the joyous success you seek in life by giving your attention and emphasis to the way you want to feel, or to your state of being, rather than to the action.”

“We would like you to release the word "achieve" or "earn" from your vocabulary and from your understanding, altogether, and we would like you to replace those words with the word "allow". You're wanting to ALLOW your Well-being, not achieve it. It's not something that you need to earn. All you have to do is decide what it is you would like to experience, and then allow it in order to achieve it. It isn't something you have to struggle for or try for. You are all worthy beings. You are all deserving of this Well-being.”

"It is not possible to earn anything. It is all vibrational."

"Everything is about Law of Attraction. Not law of going out and getting it. It's not Law Of Deserving. It is not Law Of Earning. It is just law of achieving vibrational harmony with that which you want, and then it cannot NOT come. It MUST come to you."

“Use whatever excuse you can to vibrate in harmony with those things you've been saying you want. And when you do, those things that are a vibrational equivalent flow into your experience in abundance. Not because you deserve it, not because you've earned it, but because it's the natural consequence of the Law of Attraction. That which is like unto itself is drawn.”

Phil

quote:

Originally posted by Phil:
Have you come across the idea: You get what you expect.

Phil

Quick response right now.

I submit that you or I need to expect the final desired end-result, if we are ever going to ultimately achieve it.

What we should not trouble ourselves about is to expect it to happen in any particular way that we can perhaps foresee. If it happens via some foreseen or predictable means, fine. But it can just as well happen via some channel or avenue, that we never even suspected.

More on this, later.

quote:

I submit that you or I need to expect the final desired end-result, if we are ever going to ultimately achieve it.

Wayne,

Before responding again, I hope you read my whole post. As far as I can tell none of these 3 people EXPECTED the great good they got at all.

But, they all FELT, intensely, what it would be like, to have what they really wanted.

Phil

I gotta say I have been fantasizing without expectation all my life...just for the relief from the bad marriage thing and the scary childhood thing. Its never really worked, even with an alternative ending...you know the not what I was expecting. But I am grateful I can go happy places in my mind and have always been able to do so.

I cried hysterically on the way home from work today due to the physical pain and exhaustion, and then I just went away and imagined myself driving home through my small town finding the perfect place to live that wouldn't interfere with the kids schooling, would give me sunlight and creative space, and was entirely without financial stress. I am still floating. Do I think its really gonna happen? Nah.

quote:

Do I think its really gonna happen? Nah.

Neither did the 3 people in the stories above.

Maybe it’s a little like the ‘rubber band’ analogy I once read.

Maybe your fantasies that get you to a good feeling are just getting you basically back to even keel. Maybe you need to just build up a little more ‘good energy’ steam. (Of course, I’m just speculating.)

I’m thinking it’s possible that the soldier’s often repeated fantasy got him to be like a rubber band that is stretched back. And then, the tension gets to be so much, or the energy being released into the Universe by all the fantasizing gets to the point where it generates a meaningful change (e.g., the guard failing to make the correct count) and this ‘little event’ and the soldier’s experience and mindset put him on the path to his dream come true destiny.

In your case, you’re able fantasize a better life, a fulfilling relationship, or some other thing and you get a good feeling from it. But then, back in ‘real life’ maybe you negate the effects of the good feeling. Maybe you feel guilty or foolish. Or, maybe you think you’re supposed to just make your present relationship work, but you really maybe need to be willing to move on. I, of course, can’t say.

Is it possible your ‘feel good fantasies’ and your ‘real life’ are just balancing each other out?

Just speculating here, about your situation, and the idea of whether or not ‘expectation of good’ is really needed for a significantly good change to come about. If I understand the above stories correctly it doesn't.

It seems to just take 'tilting the scales' enough so that a 'tipping point' is reached.

“It's not your work to make anything happen. It's your work to dream it and let it happen. Law of Attraction will make it happen. In your joy, you create something, and then you maintain your vibrational harmony with it, and the Universe must find a way to bring it about. That's the promise of Law of Attraction.” A-H

Phil

I'm back - and I paused to re-read your post before this reply.

Interestingly enough, Raymond Holliwell also gives an illustration in his book ("Working With the Law") of a woman, who, while her husband was alive, was, for want of a better word, living a wealthy lifestyle. As the story goes, she often commented that she looked forward to the day when ".....she would be relieved of the big house and all its problems and could live in a trunk". And, as anyone who had read that book will verify, it is indicated that it came to pass, according to her wish.

Perhaps she didn't set out with a conscious and deliberate intention to go from a mansion to a small room, but, as Holliwell put it, she "... unconsciously touched the creative principle", and inevitably brought into physical being, that which she contemplated. And I would submit that the same applies to the persons in the examples you quoted - whether or not they had a clear and definite understanding of what they were doing, it is likely that they too "unconsciously touched the creative principle", to ultimately bring about the results they obtained.

To speak more generally, every single person (you and me included) always makes use of that Creative Principle or Law, which may be adequately surmised up by that oft-quoted verse:

"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." - Proverbs 23:7

Only, the masses use it unconsciously and without understanding, thereby bringing into being conditions and circumstances which they might define as either "good", or "bad", or "neutral" - but they more often than not classify what they realize as due to such factors as Luck, Chance, Fortune or Coincidence.

In contrast, all the acknowledged masters of the science of the mind (call it Mental Science, New Thought, Metaphysics, or any other name) seem to be unanimous in the opinion that, when all is said and done, there is actually no such thing as Luck, Chance, Fortune or Coincidence. Rather, everything happens according to some Law - whether we can objectively comprehend the underlying principle or not, makes absolutely no difference. And, to be frank, just because the masses of people do not study any formulated system of the application of Thought and Action (whether SOGR or any other), does not mean that they are not subject to the consequences which arise from their use or misuse of the Creative Law, by virtue of their ignorance of its working.

"Ignorant infraction of the Law will bring its penalty, as certainly as wilful infraction. "Ignorantia legis nominem excusat" ("Ignorance of the law is no excuse") is a legal maxim which obtains throughout Nature, and the innocent child who ignorantly applies a light to a barrel of gunpowder, will be as ruthlessly blown up, as the anarchist who perishes in the perpetration of some hideous outrage."
- excerpted from "BIBLE MYSTERY & BIBLE MEANING by Thomas Troward (1913) - with insertion of mine in parenthesis

"You can act in accordance with these Laws (of the Universe) or disregard them, but you can in no way alter them. The Law forever operates and holds you to strict accountability, and there is not the slightest allowance for ignorance."
- Bob Proctor, excerpted from his edition of "The Science Of Getting Rich"; again, insertion of mine in parenthesis

"... and it is so with you, and with all of us."
- Wallace D. Wattles

Cool analogy Phil. I gotta say I feel the scale tipping anyway. Thanks.

Phil, thank you very much for this post, because you are the essence of this process and that is: "as Wattles puts it in Chapter 8 of SOGR, went into “ the full enjoyment of the things the full enjoyment of the things” she wanted."

For me, the key points in the stories are:

"She didn’t fantasize with the intent of experience some relief from all the struggle and effort creating an EXPECTATION. She just did it to experience some relief from all the struggle and effort she had been putting in."

"He had absolutely no reason to believe or have faith. But, simply to experience bits and shreds of peace and comfort But, simply to experience bits and shreds of peace and comfort, he created a fantasy out of an experience he’d had, and imagined it as real as he could make it, over and over and over."

Annviet, I invite you to go to these images in your mind where you feel happy and floating, just for that reason and not expect anything of it, you nah is true for you, but still feels the gratitude that you can go to those places of happiness in your mind, just in your mind

There is a phrase in the Bible that can illustrate this,too:
Psalm 37:4 (New International Version)

" Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart."

This is a most interesting thread!

I think that the expectation need not be a conscious one, but it DOES need to be in the SUBCONSCIOUS mind. That's where a lot of people fall short, because they can have the best CONSCIOUS intentions in the world, but if the SUBCONSCIOUS isn't in agreement, they fall short of their desires/expectations. Conversely, it's also where folks unexpectedly succeed-because although they didn't consciously think that anything would happen, somehow they were able to program their subconscious, which is what does the actual creating. It's as if they accidentally hit the switch.

For me, the key is getting my SUBCONSCIOUS mind/Inner Genie to work FOR me to co-create what I want in life;to get IT and my conscious ego-mind in agreement. I leave the HOW part up to the Universe.

So knowing this, I do everything I can to reprogram my subconscious,because I am overriding a lifetime of Scare-city and fear programming. I am a huge fan of subliminal CD's which I play as I am falling asleep. I use EFT every time unpleasant feelings happen so that I keep myself SUBCONSCIOUSLY in synch with what I CONSCIOUSLY want in life. I do things that feel good, like reading posts on this forum. It does take diligence, but for me, it has all has been very very powerful and there have been huge payoffs. All kinds of positive changes are happening including major improvements in my health, and the best part is that I am conscious of this process and so I can create DELIBERATELY.

All I really expect is, as Rebecca says, success. I just never know how it is going to show up, which makes it kinda fun! I'm open to just about anything these days, LOL!

Thanks for this post Phil, I just love reading all the cool stuff you write.

I agree with Ancient Soul, I think those people put there desires or fantasy in there subconscious. The subconscious doesn’t know what is real or what is illusion so with there fantasies they were programming their subconscious. Subconscious accepts what’s programmed into it based on the persons beliefs. The war prisoner consciously believed there was no hope but his subconscious didn’t believe that.

I think Annie consciously goes to that feel good spot but it hasn’t totally gotten through to her subconscious and you can tell that by her words, she doesn’t think it would happen. Takes some people longer than others to get it in her subconscious. So if you keep trying eventually you will succeed so there is hope for me lol.

It’s also hard to know exactly what those people believed or thought all we have to go by is what they wrote as there story.

And I think it has been proven that for you to really get what you want deep down you need to somehow feel good. Feeling good puts you in vibrational alignment with what you want or believe deep down in your subconscious.

quote:

Interestingly enough, Raymond Holliwell also gives an illustration,...

Hi Wayne,

Interestingly, what started the ‘momentum’ for this post for me, was a Holliwell quote. As you may know I collect uplifting and inspiring quotes, and loosely categorize them. Awhile back I came across the Holliwell quote below and created a category for it I called ‘Expectation Is The Key’

“It is no use to desire a thing unless you expect to get it, either in part or in full. Desire without expectation is idle wishing or dreaming. Desire will put you in touch with the inner world of causes and connect you by invisible means with the substance of the thing desired; then, continuous expectation is necessary to bring it into a reality in your life.” - Working with the Law by Raymond Holliwell

As you can see, he pretty much says “idle wishing or dreaming’ is USELESS, unless you “expect to get it.”

But, as the 3 stories (and perhaps the adverse one you shared from Holliwell) point out that expectation – at least CONSCIOUS expectation – is NOT needed. (As Julie indicated.)

Why do I think this is significant? I have noticed that when I daydream or fantasize, it’s fairly easy for me to get a good feeling,.. IF I don’t have to believe it’s TRUE.

For example, right here, right now, I can easily fantasize there is some beautiful, very attractive-to-me woman standing behind me, gently and lovingly rubbing my shoulders. I imagine she even leans over and kisses the top of my head. And I can add to this fantasy, imagining she absolutely loves me and is just delighted to please me. And,… she’s butt naked. (OK,… please take your eyes off her. She’s MY fantasy. Go make your own.)

Now, as long as I don’t have to believe it’s real, I can really enjoy the fantasy. But if I have to make it something I EXPECT to happen, well, that seems difficult, and makes experiencing a good feeling more difficult.

So, a point I want to make is, maybe one needn’t be concerned with turning some desire into an EXPECTATION, in order to have it manifest into reality.

Now, I’m not saying that if a person WERE to get to where they EXPECTED good things to happen, that that wouldn’t be extra powerful. I’m just saying that, the people in the stories didn’t, and they got exactly what they wanted. (Albeit, the soldier didn’t exactly have a pleasant excursion to freedom,… but hey, he never fantasized about escaping. Maybe if he did, and did it in some feeling good way, he would have experienced a pleasant escape.)

OK, I gotta go. My imaginary lady friend wants to sit in my lap and have more of my undivided attention. Am I going to say, no? She is, after all, incredibly beautiful and loving,…..

But seriously, isn’t it fairly easy to imagine and feel what it’s like to, say, have millions, and all the freedom you want, and incredible friends and fulfilling, wonderful relationships,… IF you don’t have to be concerned with turning them into EXPECTATIONS?

Just some thoughts on this topic of the power of feelings and ‘expectations.’

Another thought: Since those of us who study this material are aware of the power of mind, feeling and imagination, here’s what I think will eventually occur, if one were to just get good at imagining and feeling ideal situations, dreams coming true (beautiful women sitting in your lap) etc. Eventually the person may naturally get to where they have a feeling of expectation.

Speaking of beautiful women (see how the Law of Attraction works?) I just remembered another story I can share, that adds to this discussion. Here it is.

“My story as in how I started to understand the mental world was brought about totally by accident... There was this woman I wanted to date but at the time she had a boyfriend. So I completely gave up the idea of really dating her in the outer world and decided to enjoy her fully in my detailed imagination or as you say the inner world... I didn't try to manifest anything I was *completely content* to enjoy her in my mind only and I only did the mental imagining two or three times..... After a few weeks I started to see in the outer world parts of my imagining showing up like magic... It turned out everything I imagined came completely into the outer world.... It completely blew me away.” - John Holleman (from email from Enoch Mind Reality)

He didn’t ‘expect’ it. He just enjoyed the fulfillment of a desire in his imagination, and it came true.

I have now changed my category of quotes regarding expectation to: Expectation Is The Key? (I’ve added a question mark to it.)

Phil

As a certain "wascally wabbit" has been known to state on a few occassions, this is indeed becoming very "IN-teresting" - emphasis on IN-.

Perhaps some more pieces of the puzzle might be found in certain comments that have been previously stated:

Piggybacking for a moment on Julia's contribution to this thread, I agree that the expected idea must be in the SUBCONSCIOUS mind, before it can ever begin to become reality. Of course, in most instances, the idea must first reside in the person's CONSCIOUS mind, before it passes into his or her SUBCONSCIOUS mind. There are, of course, instances such as hypnotism, mental healing, or telepathy, which demonstrate that, under certain conditions, it is possible to plant an idea directly into another person's subconscious mind, seemingly bypassing their conscious mind (rather than repeat a lot of details, anyone interested can refer to Lectures 4 and 12 of Troward's "Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science").

Something else that was mentioned previously as this thread progressed, in my opinion, puts forth the suggestion that the action of establishing Expectation towards a particular object or goal, might require a great degree of effort to establish and maintain. The more my understanding of this subject expands (and yes, I don't claim to have any mastery of it at this time), the more I have come to realize that Expectation is, stripped down to its barest essentials, a Decision, i.e., you or I DECIDE that what we desire is going to happen, and that is that. And, backed by the requisite understanding, Expectation requires no great strain or effort to play its part in our getting what we desire.

I believe that this is what the good gentleman from Toronto, Canada, was seeking to convey to his audience, when he recommends that we "Let Go and Let GOD", that is, simply exercise faith that whatever has to happen for us to realize some desired object WILL happen - and that we ourselves do not attempt to predict beforehand what has to happen in order for our objective to be realized.

More, perhaps later.

Hello, Everyone!
I am new to this forum and to SOGR, but I feel the truth of it very deeply. I've enjoyed reading posts from all of you. It's fun to read each person's perspective on each idea.

In reading this thread it occurred to me that the idea of "expecting" could be interpreted as simply being "willing." Wouldn't that explain the experiences of those who got what they wanted without conscious "expectation?" Also, if being willing is all that's necessary, that would eliminated the need for complex exercises designed to get at the subconscious.

I also wonder if annievt is in some way unwilling to receive her fantasy as real. Is it possible that on some level she believes she doesn't deserve it? That's something that I've struggled with a lot.

I love the idea that good things don't come to us because we deserve them or because we've earned them, but only because it is the law of nature that we shall have all that we are willing to receive. (Thank you to whoever brought that up!)

Believing that we must earn or deserve our hearts desires could well be responsible for much of the delay in receiving them, don't you think?

I found the quote about earning and deserving. It's in the original post by Phil and was part of the Abraham-Hicks excerpt. Again, thank you for that powerful idea!

I suspect that our ideas of what expecting something means colors our feelings about expectations. This could make expecting something hard for some of us.
Joan

Finding the point of this series of posts,
seems that this is over expectation, pleasure or delight with expectations.

I want to emphasize what others have written here, leaning towards the importance of finding items to feel good, just with that goal (The highlights are mine):

...your goal is to find an object of attention that makes you feel goodwhile you find it. (A-H)

"You can move much more swiftly and effectively toward the joyous success you seek in life by giving your attention and emphasis to the way you want to feel, or to your state of being ..." (A-H)

So I completely gave up the idea of really dating her in the outer world and decided to enjoy her fully in my detailed imagination or as you say the inner world... I didn't try to manifest anything I was *completely content* to enjoy her in my mind onlyand I only did the mental imagining two or three times..... (JH)

quote:

In reading this thread it occurred to me that the idea of "expecting" could be interpreted as simply being "willing." Wouldn't that explain the experiences of those who got what they wanted without conscious "expectation?"

Hi Rachel,

Welcome to the board. Hope you continue to enjoy and add to it. To me, this is possibly the most interesting subject (and I can stay at it longer than other interesting subjects,... ha, ha, ha)

In the 4 stories, I don't see any evidence that ANY of the people were 'willing' anything. In fact, from what I gather, they had no idea they were doing ANYTHING, other than fantasizing and giving their selves some pleasure (especially RELIEF) by fantasizing what they thought it would be and FEEL like to have what they wanted.

So, to me, they weren't WILLING anything at all. They weren't applying any sort of Will Power.

But this morning, another common factor occurred to me: As far as I can tell, NONE of the four people (Leslie, the soldier, Frank Kern, at the time he did his little inner query and had his imagined feeling experience, or John Holleman) had any clue they were working any Universal Law or Principle, when they were daydreaming, fantasizing, feeling as if they had what they wanted.

So, this got me wondering: Then, do people who KNOW about Universal Principles (e.g., Law of Attraction) and the theory of the power of FEELING in advance what it's like to have what they want,... Do these people (e.g., most of us on this board) have to have EXPECTATION?

In other words, maybe people who don't know about Universal Principles can 'ignorantly' or unassumingly imagine with feeling, having something they want. And, for them, it may just seem to 'magically' come about.

But for people who KNOW or are aware of Universal Principles, maybe our knowing requires us to have EXPECTATION in order for our good to manifest?

Now, I'm not talking specifically, because, from my experience, one who knows about this stuff (e.g., ME) has gotten desirable things seemingly 'out of the blue' that I didn't pray, plan or affirm for (e.g., a promotion, raise and two bonuses). But I know I consciously DID make the choice to think thoughts, all along the way, that allowed me to feel peaceful, calm, optimistic and expectant of 'something' good, regarding my finances.

Let me take a step back here, and mention a thought that just occurred to me, regarding WILL or Will Power.

I'm not saying that exercising Will Power might not enhance or affect a desire's chances of manifesting. But in the stories presented here, I don't see any evidence of Will Power.

Here are the only commonalities I see:

1. Each person had their own reason (motivation) for fantasizing as they did.
2. They each had an intense FEELING experience of the condition they wanted, but were not presently experiencing. (The soldier apparently had MANY such experiences. John Holleman, two or three times.)
3. None of them seem to think they were directing any Universal Power, or working with any Universal Principles. They had NO EXPECTATIONS.
4. They all achieved experiencing in reality what they had fantasized with feeling. (Albeit, it didn't initially last for Leslie, for reasons she stated in her story).
5. Their motivation to fantasize and FEEL BETTER was fairly STRONG.

Do you see any other common factors?

Phil

Added: A couple more I just thought of:

6. They all acted singly. In other words, no one else, at the time, knew they were fantasizing like they were. (Even though they didn't seem to know it, they were essentially, 'Praying In Secret' so as not to diffuse the energy, even though they didn't know they were dealing with energy, or doing anything other than fantasizing.)
7. They weren't ATTACHED to any outcome. (Primarily because, in fact, they weren't even CONSIDERING they were doing anything to create any outcome.)

I took Rachel's post to speak of being willing as opposed to using the will in action. This, to me, would mean the person does nothing to block the manifestation into reality of the thing they fantasized about, which I suspect many of us do.

It's possible that KNOWING about these laws makes the difference between daydreaming for the sake of daydreaming and feeling good versus "visualizing" with intent to manifest something. The latter likely gets us all tense about seeing the thing come into reality, starts us looking into the "how" and brings up subconscious blocks.

The person who daydreams for the sake of the daydream is the one who is really letting go and letting god.

Yes, this is a very interesting thread...thanks a bunch everyone!

I took Rachel's "willing" as "allowing."

LauraK