Expectation and Expectancy

I heard a man once talk about the difference between expectation and expectancy.

Expectation is insisting on what you need (or what you believe you need). It is sitting with your hands clenched and insisting upon what you need coming to you right this second. And it often doesn't work.

Expectation can come from entitlement, yes, but it also comes from desperation. Everything is crumbling out in the world, at the tired, tired end of one story and at the beginning of a new one. People are falling in-between the cracks of one story and the other. It is a scary time for many, many people.

Sometimes expectation is correct. It is right to expect our societies to be sane. The health of ourselves is directly tied to how healthy our societies are (or are allowed to be). Human beings cannot simply function as individuals; we need a community to belong to and which nourishes us. We are helpless as babies without it. We grow up spindly, malnourished, hustling for our right to flourish on the earth.

Not one of us has lived in one of those types of communities out in the world. The end of the story has crushed them under its heel for now.

But shoots are springing up out there.

Expectancy is in many ways the opposite to expectation. In a state of expectancy you live with your hands open to receive. You are open to the sunlight and the rain. You have trust that you will be provided for.

And, strangely, what you expect is what you get.

Sometimes this fact feels very unfair to me. Not everyone is able to live in expectancy because through no fault of their own they have been shitted on by people who do not believe that they are their brother's keeper.

We are all each other's keeper. We are all one. We all should be willing to live without judging those who are obviously not doing well. I hate how judgmental people are in the name of believing in karma. Hate. But I digress.

Many people who display expectation are simply products of the brokenness that was forced upon them. But they are masters of expectancy in waiting.

I am overwhelmed by the abundance of creativity here on Steemit. THERE IS SO MUCH CREATIVE TALENT! And here is a space where we can feed each other by sharing a space that bubbles with potential even with its many problems. It takes some time to get used to being in an environment with this creative potential. It feels like the way it used to do when I was part of a blogging community10 years ago - rich, and being made richer by sharing, and I'm not talking about money.

I am sitting here in a state of expectancy, waiting for some ideas on how I can contribute more on Steemit. I want to start up some kind of competition or initiative at some point in the future. Some idea that comes to me like a bolt from the blue and makes my heart beat a little faster.

I have zero ideas so far.

But that's okay. I know how this creative process works. It feels like there is zero going on in your mind while meanwhile, in a back room you don't have access to there is a creative stove with a bunch of stuff bubbling on it, cooking slowly down to a rich sauce. And out in the garden there is a compost bin where every single experience is poured in, and it all breaks down to hardcore nutrients, dense with worm castings, that are poured on invisible flower beds and ideas spring up, suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, when you're making your lunch.