Beneath False Hope

[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!

Melanie Faith

Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.

Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.

The Society of Professional Journalists

In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.

I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.

Maxine Greene

Philosopher and Education Scholar

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We need to stay current with each other. – Angeles Arrien

What does it mean to stay current?

Staying current, to me, means having expectations. We stay stay current when we act in alignment with our expectations. Expectations are not wrong. Having expectations of myself, expecting myself to act honestly and with kindness in situations, does not seem unrealistic. Having expectations of others, expecting honesty and kindness, does not seem unrealistic, either. In fact, both honesty and kindness seem pretty basic. Those expectations make sense to me. What happens when that basic pact is broken and something else occurs? I am not sure. I think the road to staying current is paved with honesty, humility, and love.

Feeling the pain of expectations.

Expectations are painful. We feel frustration because another person does not act the way we want them to. We feel disappointment when expectations are not met. We feel helpless to control people and situations. We feel anger that can build up after many years of expectation and disappointment . That is the collateral damage of expectations.

Waiting for change.

Waiting for change describes most of my expectation experience. Waiting for someone to have a light bulb moment in a specific way, in a direction that I think fits their greatest good. Waiting for someone to act differently, to do a different dance, when I don’t change my dance steps. Waiting for change to happen in my life when I keep doing the same things and expect to achieve different results. Waiting for change is painful.

What happens when we let go of expectations.

If waiting for change is painful then letting go of expectations is not. In the short term letting go can hurt as we rewire, adjust, and un/re/learn. In the long term, letting go leads to less pain. When we let go of expectations we focus on engaging with our path, doing our work, shining our light. When we let go of expectations we maintain boundaries, we live gratefully, and build trust. When we let go of expectations the weight of living beneath false hope is lifted and we can be our true selves.

https://kitt.global/july-5-beneath-false-hope-mark-nepo-the-book-of-awakening/