Anticipation can be described as a yearning or a desire to get something that would give you a burst of good feelings.
Anticipation precedes experience. Experience strengthens your anticipation and may set a new standard of enjoyment and expectation for future events.

Anticipation

Every thought has a desire behind it. It fuels the mind to divert attention from the current moment and instead focus on the spell of desire. If I receive a message from someone from work, I anticipate how I will feel reading the message. All focus is on predicting the next moment and checking if it matches the anticipated outcome. 
Life gives many opportunities to build more anticipation with lots of new events happening. Daily notifications on the phone are continuously distracting us from reality. We have become a Pavlovian dog without even noticing it.

The magic spell of desire

On the one end, desire cultivates anticipation. On the other, it fosters fear. 
Positive outcomes build anticipation, and negative outcomes build fear from desire. In both cases, reality slips by unnoticed in the background. If we overcome desire, we eliminate anticipation and fear.

Desire results in two outcomes

<img alt="Specks" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/500/1*lUDXILa1vdkqCydqikCadg" width="28" height="28"><h4 dir="ltr">4 days ago·4 min read</h4><figure><img alt="Image for post" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/500/1*F8c1880HBaLLP-Fa9YbPKg.jpeg" width="612" height="408"></figure>Have you waited in the line at your favorite ice cream shop, for your turn, to order that one flavor you love the most? The moment you get it you have this burst of emotions that lead to devouring that in one go? Well, this post is all about taking you on a journey on what really happens in your mind when this happens. I am not a neuroscientist or anything, but this is more about putting into words what I think is happening in my head and see if it resonates as similar experience in others as well.AnticipationThe key character in this post is Anticipation. When I think of anticipation, I can think of yearning, a desire. A desire to get something that would give me a burst of good feelings. Anticipation comes before the experience. The experience might in turn set a new anticipation for future events. Let’s look at it a bit deeper from my perspective on the same ice cream topic as before.The first time I had a taste of Brown Butter Almond Brittle flavored ice cream was with a very good friend of mine. That experience of having tasted that ice cream flavor on that day set a level of standard on enjoying that ice cream flavor that was so damn high. The anticipation of having ice cream and that too brown-butter-almond-brittle flavored one was so high that next time I ordered ice cream I got the same flavor. This time when I got it, because of my anticipation, the experience of eating that ice cream was not in that moment. I was comparing my current experience and evaluating it against the previous one. This experience in turn strengthens this anticipation, irrespective of whether the experience was positive or negative. From then on, the process continued, every time my anticipation high before getting it, and then failing to enjoy the taste at that moment.Anytime I order food through Uber Eats, I automatically fall into the anticipation hype machine. As I started writing this post, I ordered some Asian fusion and my anticipation burst when the doorbell rang. But then I realized, I am not actually hungry to eat, my anticipation or my desire is the one that is hungry. Desire is pulling me into its spell and I fall prey to it, losing my contact to the present moment. Anticipation leads to focus generated through stress, that doesn’t do much good for the body.The Magic Spell of DesireThis is such a simple concept but it exists in every single thought that the mind carries. Every thought has a desire behind it that fuels the mind to be detracted from the current reality and get lost in the magical spell of desire. I get a message from someone from work, I anticipate what I will feel reading the message. I autocomplete a work meeting even before it happened, by running simulations of what questions will be asked, what my answers will be and what the general feeling will be. I have already anticipated the outcome and anything short of it would mean my meeting in reality was a flop.The mind runs at a high vibration, a surge of dopamine kicks in when the anticipation takes over the functioning. The experience is side lined to the background as all the focus is on predicting the next moment and checking if it matches the anticipated outcome. It is deeply rooted in the mind and life throws new opportunities to build more anticipation with exposure to lot of data and new events happening. The daily notifications on the phone is continuously distracting us from reality through anticipation. We have become a Pavlovian dog at every moment in our life, without even noticing it as it happens now.<BLOCKQUOTE>If anticipation is the shock the Pavlovian dog receives, desire is a leash that chains the dog, by falsely making the dog believe that it had a positive experience.</BLOCKQUOTE>Are you excited thinking about showing this post to someone? If you are, aren’t you actually excited because of the anticipation of the reaction the other person might have? If so, isn’t that desire taking over your moment with the person rather than the reality? I put the question to myself as well; isn’t the desire to have this post be read by thousands of people the reason why I am writing it? Initially I answered yes, but I stopped writing and really observed at what was happening and my anticipation gave in. It doesn’t mean it won’t rise back some other time, but I did banish it for the time I wrote this whole post which is about 20 minutes. I am writing this more for myself, tomorrow when I wake up, I will be running with high anticipation on serious things, this post would help me unwind whenever that happens.Desire is a two headed snake. On one end, it cultivates anticipation and on the other it cultivates fear. Positive outcomes build anticipation and negative outcomes build fear from desire. Some people are attached to the high of anticipation and some are attached to the lows of fear. In both cases, reality slips by unnoticed in the background. Freeing from anticipation should not lead to chaining to fear and vice versa. If we conquer desire, we eliminate anticipation and fear, whether it is of the past or the future.

Anticipation is the high you feel before experiencing the thing you anticipate. The anticipation of that ice cream is higher than the experience of the ice cream itself.

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Have you waited in the line at your favorite ice cream shop, for your turn, to order that one flavor you love the most? The moment you get it you have this burst of emotions that lead to devouring that in one go? Well, this post is all about taking you on a journey on what really happens in your mind when this happens. I am not a neuroscientist or anything, but this is more about putting into words what I think is happening in my head and see if it resonates as similar experience in others as well.

An ticipation

The key character in this post is Anticipation . When I think of anticipation, I can think of yearning, a desire. A desire to get something that would give me a burst of good feelings. Anticipation comes before the experience. The experience might in turn set a new anticipation for future events. Let’s look at it a bit deeper from my perspective on the same ice cream topic as before.

The first time I had a taste of Brown Butter Almond Brittle flavored ice cream was with a very good friend of mine. That experience of having tasted that ice cream flavor on that day set a level of standard on enjoying that ice cream flavor that was so damn high. The anticipation of having ice cream and that too brown-butter-almond-brittle flavored one was so high that next time I ordered ice cream I got the same flavor. This time when I got it, because of my anticipation, the experience of eating that ice cream was not in that moment. I was comparing my current experience and evaluating it against the previous one. This experience in turn strengthens this anticipation, irrespective of whether the experience was positive or negative. From then on, the process continued, every time my anticipation high before getting it, and then failing to enjoy the taste at that moment.

Anytime I order food through Uber Eats, I automatically fall into the anticipation hype machine. As I started writing this post, I ordered some Asian fusion and my anticipation burst when the doorbell rang. But then I realized, I am not actually hungry to eat, my anticipation or my desire is the one that is hungry. Desire is pulling me into its spell and I fall prey to it, losing my contact to the present moment. Anticipation leads to focus generated through stress, that doesn’t do much good for the body.

The Magic Spell of Desire

This is such a simple concept but it exists in every single thought that the mind carries. Every thought has a desire behind it that fuels the mind to be detracted from the current reality and get lost in the magical spell of desire. I get a message from someone from work, I anticipate what I will feel reading the message. I autocomplete a work meeting even before it happened, by running simulations of what questions will be asked, what my answers will be and what the general feeling will be. I have already anticipated the outcome and anything short of it would mean my meeting in reality was a flop.

The mind runs at a high vibration, a surge of dopamine kicks in when the anticipation takes over the functioning. The experience is side lined to the background as all the focus is on predicting the next moment and checking if it matches the anticipated outcome. It is deeply rooted in the mind and life throws new opportunities to build more anticipation with exposure to lot of data and new events happening. The daily notifications on the phone is continuously distracting us from reality through anticipation. We have become a Pavlovian dog at every moment in our life, without even noticing it as it happens now.

If anticipation is the shock the Pavlovian dog receives, desire is a leash that chains the dog, by falsely making the dog believe that it had a positive experience.

Are you excited thinking about showing this post to someone? If you are, aren’t you actually excited because of the anticipation of the reaction the other person might have? If so, isn’t that desire taking over your moment with the person rather than the reality? I put the question to myself as well; isn’t the desire to have this post be read by thousands of people the reason why I am writing it? Initially I answered yes, but I stopped writing and really observed at what was happening and my anticipation gave in. It doesn’t mean it won’t rise back some other time, but I did banish it for the time I wrote this whole post which is about 20 minutes. I am writing this more for myself, tomorrow when I wake up, I will be running with high anticipation on serious things, this post would help me unwind whenever that happens.

Desire is a two headed snake. On one end, it cultivates anticipation and on the other it cultivates fear. Positive outcomes build anticipation and negative outcomes build fear from desire. Some people are attached to the high of anticipation and some are attached to the lows of fear. In both cases, reality slips by unnoticed in the background. Freeing from anticipation should not lead to chaining to fear and vice versa. If we conquer desire, we eliminate anticipation and fear, whether it is of the past or the future.

Anticipation: Mind’s Hype Machine

Anticipation

The magic spell of desire

Desire results in two outcomes

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