Aspirations are our wish to achieve things. Expectations are the strong hope that something will happen.
Aspirations are what happen inside us. They arise from within us and require action on our part. I aspire to help others. I aspire to get a graduate degree. I aspire to enjoy the day whether the sun shines or the rain pours down.
Expectations are what happen outside us. I expect others to appreciate my help. I expect to graduate and then get a good job. I expect the sun to shine and the rain to hold off for another day.
Aspirations show our higher goals. I aspire to be more patient, to spend more time with my children, to be a model of goodness, to meet my parent's ideals for me.
Expectations are more ordinary. And they involve others, which makes them so unpredictable and expose us to much unhappiness. An aspiration is a wish that I act on, but an expectation depends on others to perform or a situation to unfold as I want.
Expectations bind us to disappointment.
Aspirations allow us to soar.