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Emerging from negative expectations
Originally published on sentinel.christianscience.com and in The Christian Science Monitor’s Christian Science Perspective column, June 17, 2019.
Cynicism and despondency can seem the order of the day, especially when things aren’t going the way we’d like. A string of disappointments may lead us to wonder what disaster awaits just around the corner. On the other hand, even if things are going well, we may be convinced a big letdown is inevitable. Either way, we’re harboring a negative expectation, a sense that good in our lives is undependable, unsustainable, or unattainable.
Years ago I had the need to challenge that. I worked at a large bank selling financial securities. Although I labored diligently, my performance was very poor, and the rest of the group was not faring much better. Morale sank very low, and it was easy to come in day after day with a poor attitude.

August 5, 2019 issue
View Issue-
From the readers
Kathleen Cramer, Jill Johnson
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How much of this magazine do I need to read?
Susan Stark
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Looking forward to … deadlines?
Cheryl Ranson
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Freedom from the immigrant ‘race tax’
Karim Ajania
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Emerging from negative expectations
Mark Raffles
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We can make a difference
Sharon Slaton Howell
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Choosing Christian Science
Joyce Esgar
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‘Walking, and leaping, and praising God’
Diane Redding
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Severed fingertip healed
Michelle Boccanfuso Nanouche
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Dizziness disappears
Madeline Demaree
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'The whole earth is at rest ...'
Photograph by Gwen P. Lynn
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True enlightenment
Michael Pabst