I just watched an episode of Torchwood where a mother was dealing with her son going missing.  When we were learning her story she said she was kind of tortured with hope because it wouldn't allow her to move on, but they were happy memories.  7 months later when she learns her son is still alive but changed and mentally traumatized she longed to go back to that hope and the happy memories.  Now she knew the truth.  It's the same hope.  But she was coming at it from different places on the emotional scale.
My friends tease me because I'm so anti-spoiler.  I've gotten to the point I don't enjoy trailers anymore.  And I'm very particular and cautious about what which actors I will actually watch (or read) their interviews.  And it all goes back to hope.  I have a very good imagination if I'm given information ahead of time I can a) figure the story out too soon ruining the story b) create a better story in my imagination and then be disappointed with what is actually presented to me c) want to relive something from childhood and it's just never the same!  (new Muppet Show, please be good!).  And with the interviews, if a beloved character is created by an actor who doesn't give good interviews it ruins the beloved character.  Hopes and expectations are very pivotal in our experiences.
What do you think about hope and expectations?  Have you noticed them inspiring or holding you back?  They can do both but a lot depends on where you are emotionally when you experience them.  It can be a relief from annoyed but a step back from optimism.  Are they keeping you stuck in the past?  In isolation?  Or are they helping you imagine new worlds?

This morning I got a great newsletter from The Tapping Solution (if you don't know about tapping/EFT check it out it's a very valuable tool or contact me I'll teach you what to do) that asked the question "Do you deserve to be Successful"?  The goal is to find your blocks about success and get them out of your system.  In doing the exercise I came up against one of my big blocks (for many things), I want to know how I'm going to get it done.  I've come to realize this is not my job!  (Ask And It Is Given by Abraham - Hicks) Learning to allow the energy of this world to do it's job and create abundant and bountiful patterns for us to step into has been a challenge for me.  But I know that the Universal Energy (God if you prefer, but I find that limiting to what we think we know about God) out there knows what it's doing.  We often hear "it is better to give than to receive" and that's a nice thing to tell children to get them to think outside themselves but adults are not good at receiving!  There is a give and take that naturally flows and we need to allow that flow to work through us and in us.
The other thing I noticed is that I loose interest when anything begins to feel like work/struggle.  Now that may sound lazy of me and it has kept me rather average in my pursuits (if only I would have practiced more I could play the piano with my 8 years of piano lessons...), but thinking about it now with this Universal Energy flow...I think it was me just connecting with wanting to find things that came naturally and flowed to their proper destination.  Abraham-Hicks speaks of the river.  Our culture trains us that you have to work hard, struggle, fight the good fight, persist persist persist, basically paddle up stream because that is what God/Country/Gold requires of us.  But in terms of Universal Energy everything is downstream!  If we use our natural guidance system that we were born with...our emotions...and follow the things that feel good, light, high vibration, the Universe will take us where we want to go.  To put it another way, we are meant to BE not DO.  It is an inward to outward movement when our society is focused on reacting and acting from the outward and expecting that to make us happy (inward).  So what if all the people out there who feel average aren't lazy but confused...being stuck in limbo between societies call to paddle upstream and their inner voice telling them it's all downstream!  What do you do????  Let go of the paddles!
I deserve success because I am following my bliss.  I deserve success because I want to live life not just watch it pass by.  I have a lot to offer and so do you!