NOW WHAT? By Dr. Jim Lockard

 

“In the majority of my cases, the resources of consciousness have been exhausted; the ordinary expression for this situation is: ‘I am stuck’. . . the theme of many a fairytale and myth.”

~ C.G. Jung

My dad had a lot of bad days. Many things irritated him, including a number of things that I did. He never hit me physically, but his emotional tirades were frightening when I was a child. One pattern that I remembered was his habit of always being on the lookout for something that was going wrong. If he had been irritated by something and something else happened – the telephone or doorbell rang, someone called to him – he would say, “NOW WHAT?” loudly

Later in life, I came to realize that his expectation of some new irritant or negative experience was self-created and self-sustaining. He was reinforcing that habit pattern within himself by the way he thought and reacted to the world around him. Realizing that fact helped me to have greater compassion for him.

Have you noticed how we set ourselves up in terms of our expectations of the world? My dad expected to be angered or irritated by most things. I can recall times when I expected to be irritated or let down by most things. What I learned later is that when I have such a pattern of expectation, I will actually control my perception so that I am let down or irritated. I may refuse to see something positive or misidentify it because of my self-created ego need to have a negative experience. How tragic!

Through learning the principles of the Science of Mind™ and some basic psychology, I have come to realize that life doesn’t have to be that way. I can use the same amount of thought and emotional energy to create positive expectations. It takes some determination, some humility, and some practice, but I can do it. And that means that you can do it also.

Today, when I react to something with a “NOW WHAT?” I am expecting something positive. And when it isn’t positive, I am better able to accept whatever it is and then decide from a healthy perspective about what, if anything, to do about it. That basic shift, from an expectation of negativity to one of positivity is within our capacity to make. So why not?

I easily create the expectation of good in my life. I know that I am creating my inner expectations and I know that I am connected to a Divine Source. I expect and deserve good in my life.