The Curse of Entitlement
Everything you believe you are entitled to causes you pain and robs you of joy. Lets inquire into this:Become aware of everything you feel entitled to that you don’t have…this would be anything you are angry about, feel sad about, regret, resent, lack, or need. The only way you would have these feelings is that you feel like you deserve (are entitled to) these things, relationships, and experiences. How do you behave when you feel you need these things? How does your belief in your entitlement affect your happiness?Now become aware of everything you have that you feel entitled to, possessions, relationships, experiences, money, abundance, food…etc. How does your entitlement affect your experience of these things?Now imagine you are poor, alone, on the street, you have nothing, you are hungry and cold and you receive one thing out of your home, anything, even just a piece of food from the drawer or clothing from your closet. What do you experience? Lack and need? Joy and gratitude?When did you become entitled to anything? Who taught you? What is the benefit of your entitlement? How does it serve you?What would happen to you right now if you lost all of your entitlement to anything and the reality of your life remained unchanged, the only change being you lost all of your entitlement? How would you feel? What would come into your life?It seems to me losing every bit of my entitlement would a great blessing, the lifting of a curse that stands between me and gratitude and joy. I would not stop doing what I do or working or being with my family or anything but I would do it in a totally different spirit.