That’s not what I had expected….

Inflated expectations and wanting to repeat previous experiences can become unhelpful attachments that trap us in the past and hinder accepting the new realities. Unexamined, expectations can become idols that dominate our thinking and take away our peace, necessitating a reality check to deal with them. Ignatian freedom is the opposite: freely accepting new conditions as gifts, without being limited by preconceptions or expectations, in order to find the newness of God in current situations.

Excerpted from Brothers in Arms  by Brendan McManus SJ (p.39)