There I was, sweat dripping into my eyes, down my arms and legs. The room was 100°F and the humidity high. At times I had to remind myself that I had actually signed up and paid for that 60-minute hot yoga class because on that particular day I was having my derriere handed to me on a platter. Sometimes, for no reason whatsoever, hot yoga just kicks my butt.

I was listening to the instructor knowing that the last 15 minutes of class are often the most difficult. She was asking us to take our poses deeper, further, and to hold them longer. It was taking all of my focus, concentration and desire to ask my body to do what the instructor was saying. I was being pushed to my limit.

Then she said something that has been repeating in my head for over a week: “I’m pushing you beyond where you think you can go so you can move beyond your expectations.” I smiled to myself in that moment because I was, indeed, being pushed!

This got me thinking about expectations, what they are and how they work. Expectations are things that we create in our minds based upon our past experience with something. For instance, when you touch a hot stove it hurts your hand – this is a fair expectation. Or, maybe when you eat dairy you get an awful tummy ache. There is valuable information here that may help you determine a different and more self-honoring choice in the future.

In these ways, expectations inform us and work to our benefit to protect us from future harm and discomfort. However, expectations can also be very self-limiting and can prevent you from seeing the vast array of possibilities that are available to you.

For instance expecting to gain weight every time you don’t eat “perfectly” is an expectation that is very limiting. Expecting to always have a bad experience whenever you go to the dentist negates the possibility of a different outcome. Expecting things in your life to always be a challenge and a struggle will likely become a self-fulfilling prophecy in the end.

“Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right!” – Henry Ford

I could go to a yoga class and expect that it’s going to be really hard and that I’ll never get into a headstand. I could believe that email I received was meant to judge and criticize me. I could assume that as I get older my body will only get weaker and become less attractive. I could presume a lot of things.

But just because I believe or expect something and I’m thinking about that thing in a particular way, it doesn’t mean it’s true! In the end, most expectations, assumptions and beliefs aren’t going to offer you an opportunity to receive a completely different outcome. You have to be willing to look beyond your current expectations in order to move past them.

Many times expectations are masking as truth because you don’t yet know how to move beyond them.

I don’t know exactly how I’m going to get into that headstand, and I don’t yet know the precise steps I’m going to take to grow my business to where I want it to be. But I do know that telling myself I can’t means I probably never will. Convincing myself that it’s going to be hard and painful isn’t going to motivate me to try. And telling myself that my expectation is inevitable is less of a truth than it is a way to prove that nothing else is possible.

What are your expectations?
What do you expect to see when you look in the mirror?
What do you expect to happen when you bump up against your limits?
What do you believe you are capable of and at what point do you believe you can’t?
How do your expectations serve you, and when do they hold you hostage?

Just when I thought I couldn’t hold that sweaty yoga pose any longer and turn my body in that direction any further, I started to smile and giggle. The whole scene began to feel really humorous to me, and I realized my expectations were telling me what was possible and what wasn’t.

I had a breakthrough that day in yoga class, both on my mat and off of it. I had a breakthrough in my mindset and body as I gently moved past what I believed was possible for me. Now, when I recognize an expectation within myself I question it. Is it informing and protecting me? Or is it keeping me from living into my full and radiant possibilities?

Every day life offers many gorgeous opportunities to get curious and discover what lies just beyond your expectations. What is waiting for you just beyond the comfort zone you’re living in?

“Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.” – Mary Kay Ash