No Expectation = Maximum Satisfaction

All those who know me well know one thing that I can walk into any movie and come out fully satisfied with the movie irrespective of how useless / boring / pathetic the movie is. I can enjoy the most floppest of the movies.
How do I do it?
Simple, at the very start of the movie, I drop all the expectations from the movie. Looking at the quality of movies coming out these days, I figure that the best way is to switch off my mind and leave it back home. That way I can enjoy it better. And, by mistake, if it happens to be a good movie, it becomes a pleasant surprise and I can enjoy it even better.

Recently, I went out with a few friends to see a dead volcano. I know, the moment I say volcano you start visualising a huge crater with jagged edges, gray rocks, ashes all over the place, and somewhere far away at the core of the crater, maybe there will be smoke. I'm sure you have seen such views on Discovery Channel and can imagine what I'm talking about.
But that is what you expect.
That is what my friends expected
When we reached there, it was definitely a trip to the top of the hill, it was definitely a hill top with a huge volcanic crater, and sharp edges, but there was one small difference. Instead of gray rock and ashes everywhere, we saw a lush forest in the crater. All the way from the edge of the crater to the center, there was dense forestation and at the centre of the crater there was a small water pool covered with green. This volcano had been dead for thousands of years and now the place was filled by a forest. It was the most amazing view I had seen, although one of my friends was not as excited as he did not see the ashes and rocks.
I was able to enjoy this trip to the max because I had gone without any expectations.
On the same logic, when I cook myself, I enjoy the food the most.

In all the above examples, No expectation = Maximum satisfaction.

We all fall in this trap quite often.
We go places having a predefined expectation.
We get into a relationship expecting a few great things and when they don't work out, we are dissatisfied.
We go to a gym expecting to get 6 packs in a month and when it doesn't happen, its not a good gym.

Can we have Zero expectations from the world? Maybe it makes things easier at times.

Be Careful!!! This is where your cunning mind plays tricks.

I will not walk into my office with zero expectations. When I walk into office everyday, when I make a sales call, when I go to meet a client, when I walk into an exam hall, I have great expectations with myself and my performance. I expect big things from the projects, from the sales calls, from the interviews, from the exams.
That is where one is expected to have expectations.

And end of the day, I understand one thing very clearly - It may not always be good to have expectations from the outside world, But I should have expectations from myself.
What I expect the world defines my relationship with the world
What I expect from myself defines the direction of my growth in life.