How often do you feel disappointment? If you feel chronically disappointed by life, it can feel like a dark
cloud follows you everywhere.
It is an overwhelming emotion, but what if you’ve been misinterpreting its intention?
According to Rick Wilkes, skilled emotional freedom technique practitioner, there are 3 triggers for
disappointment:
1) Unmet expectations
2) Shocks and accidents
3) Physical and emotional injuries
I personally have had a history of disappointments in my life, I’m just now realizing. It all started when I was six years old, and my Aunt Elaine very tragically died at 16 years old with a fast-growing tumor in her lungs.
It shook my world as my Grandma and Grandpa (my caretakers during the day)were devastated by the loss of their only daughter.
I’ve had a series of profound disappointments since then, a failed first marriage, daughter having cystic fibrosis, not having custody of her from ages 2-12, and many disappoint- ments in growing my business over the years. I have often felt I should “be further ahead.”
I had no idea this pattern even existed, until I recently did some energy work, and I had a strong emotional response.
Have you ever had an expectation of something that continually didn’t happen as you wanted, and you started to stop desiring the outcome?
This is actually nature’s way of helping us to let go. Animals won’t keep chasing after prey if it gets to be
too difficult.
But as humans we make up all sorts of stories about WHY we have to keep striving for a goal, and that somehow we’re not a worthwhile person if we fail to attain the prize.
But disappointment can be seen as a messenger that perhaps we can let go for now, relax. It doesn’t have to mean giving up on our dreams/goals forever.
It’s just so easy to take these disappointments personally and identify as a lesser person. But this would be an error in thinking.
Things unfold on their own time table. Sometimes we’re not ready to receive a goal because we might take it for granted or immaturely use the power we’d been given. For example, we may get arrogant about our accomplishments and feel better than others.
When it’s not our time to receive a goal, a better thing to do than to get stuck in disappointment, is to acknowledge it, and stay curious as to its message. How should we course correct? Do we need to rest and replenish our energy, shake it off, so we can see more clearly our next step?
We do have the capacity to be resilient and cope with life.
The sooner we can embrace our disappointment, and see it as a guidepost for a better, smarter way, the quicker we can free ourselves from this overwhelming emotion.
Supporting you all the way,
Angie Monko
