Have you ever wondered why our best intentions and the ability to accomplish them seem to live in two different universes? We intend not to do something mean-spirited or otherwise self-defeating. Yet that is often just what we do. Then we ask, "What happened... how could we?" Yet, for all of our questioning, this mystery remains unsolved. See if the following insight doesn't shed much-needed...

Question: Your teachings say that making demands and having expectations just sets us up for trouble. I know it's true. I always plan how other people should act and how things should turn out, but they never do what I expect, and then I become angry and disappointed. I sense that I am causing all my own pain. If I could just learn to want for myself what life wants for me maybe I wouldn't...