Do not expect thanks or appreciation for your work. Do actions as your duty and offer them and their fruits to God. – Swami Sivananda
Have no expectations. Expectations lead to anxiety and often to disappointment. You wait for the post to arrive day after day. And ultimately the post person does not bring that important letter which you are expecting from your friend. Your frustration knows no limits. Why all this mental torture?
No expectations, no disappointments.
Whatever you are destined to enjoy or suffer, you will enjoy or suffer. No one else can add to, or take away from your quota of enjoyment or suffering.
Knowing this, why should you waste your energy and time in anxiety? Forget the past. Have no thought for the future. Live in the present moment. To the best of your ability, discharge your responsibilities as they present themselves before you.
There is a God to take care of the results.
Some people say, “I do not care what happens to me. But I am worried about others.” This is another kind of expectation. Those who say this are deceiving themselves. Do not worry about your son’s madness or your daughter’s running away with someone. By all means, do all you can to minimize life’s tragedies, but do not worry an iota.
Each individual is governed by their past Karma. No one has the power to alter anyone else’s fate in the least. Even when A seems to be helping B, it is God and B’s previous Karma which is working through A and not A. Once you understand this, you will not worry about others… or about yourself.
Worry saps energy and wastes time. The person who worries betrays the spiritual laws.