Misfortune weighs most heavily on those who expect nothing but good fortune.

I have an entirely different opinion. In magic work, it is a general rule that your words create your reality. So if your words are less than greatest, your reality will be too. In fact, this is so important that there is a crucial rule of acting and speaking as if your wish already came true. And this is true in magic, in religions like when you call the Monad. Even your brain naturally gets better at something when it thinks it is already good at it, because it gets more dopamine when it does it, and as a result, more brain power dedicated to it. Emotions such as fear, depression, and hopelessness generally reduce effectiveness and will to progress, even if you dont believe in magic.

that is psychology. Now in magic, reality can be affected by words, symbols, actions and frequencies, in scientific terms through butterfly effect, in magic terms, reality is altered by words, symbols, actions, thoughts and frequencies in a way which goes beyond observable world and affects reality through effects which cannot be scientifically measured, but believers feel them clearly.

Well, I did get rolex and apple air pods 2 pro this week, so I guess my magic effects can also be measured scientifically. In a very short time, I became very good at a lot of things, even finding great prices of otherwise very costly products. I sort of became an expert at finding best prices online by comparing mass data of same products, and focusing on best affordable products.

Suffering is a natural part of human life.

There was a quote, but I forgot who it was from, "Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one." Which was particularly profound in its meaning and application.

Optimism is acceptable, but it has the potential to do more harm than good. Same with pessimism. (I know cynicism is the more common word, but it has a different meaning. Using it in this context would be misusing the word.)

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement; nothing can be done without hope and confidence," - Helen Keller

I would not say this is accurate.

If you have misfortune and also expect low to worst outcomes that is where it weighs the most.

If you have misfortune and expect the best, that is a coping mechanism. It can work but for how long?

Just pray. Prayer to the Christian God (especially the Holy Spirit actually, you should not solely pray to Christ unlike what sone Protestants say and do) is essential.

When Holy Spirit fills you, you will literally see pathways, get ideas, clues and rewards that you did not expect.

Go on the righteous path.

It can take years for you to escape the Hell-on-Earth you are trapped in. Pray anyway and with faith and works you shall persevere.

This all sounds like fake nonsense to a firm disbeliever. Try it.

Your life will change.

I understand what you imply, and, generally speaking, yes, suffering is a reality of life. But, to cave to suffering as being necessary, no, it is not. That thinking denies the atonement of Christ, which has infinite application. I even oppose the common Christian belief that we suffer for the sins of Adam and Eve. Christ paid for that, being a perfect man who yet suffered as if he were the most sinful man to have ever lived. That sacrifice on his behalf means we suffer only for the sins and disappointments of our own lives, and no one else's [not including the compassion we should also express for all around us who also suffer. We need to support one another when one of us is down, just as Christ did. You rightly implied he never said it would be easy, just worth it.

Jesus taught that following Him requires personal sacrifice (denying oneself, taking up a cross) and involves suffering, as He promised His followers tribulation, but also offers rest and purpose through His own ultimate sacrifice as a ransom for many, transforming hardship into spiritual growth and eternal life. He called disciples to give up worldly attachments, not for self-deprivation, but for freedom to live more abundantly, while His life exemplified serving others and His death served as the definitive sacrifice for sins, fulfilling old rituals. 

On Personal Sacrifice & Suffering

1. Deny Yourself & Take Up Your Cross: Jesus instructed, "Whoever wishes to come after Me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matthew 16:24), meaning a willingness to endure hardship and give up self-will for His sake.
2. Suffering is Inevitable: He warned, "In the world you will have tribulation," but also encouraged, "take heart; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).
3. Sacrifice for Life: "Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 16:25).
4. Letting Go: Sacrifices involve laying aside attachments and attitudes to become free to follow Him, like leaving nets or family to serve. 

On His Own Sacrifice

1. The Ultimate Sacrifice: Jesus stated His purpose was to "give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).
2. Fulfillment of Law: His single, perfect sacrifice ended the need for endless animal sacrifices, making people holy (Hebrews 10:9-10).
3. Love & Forgiveness: His death is presented as the ultimate demonstration of God's love, atoning for sins (1 John 4:10). 

The Purpose of Suffering

1. Spiritual Growth: Suffering, when carried with Christ, builds spiritual strength and brings one closer to God, replacing old rituals with a transformed life.
2. Overcoming the World: Though difficult, facing suffering helps followers overcome worldly pressures, knowing Jesus has already conquered. 

I will stand on my original statement, that suffering is not necessary. I should add that its continuation is not necessary. It is a matter of choice. Yes, I encounter misfortune as everyone else does, and I believe the scriptures, like those that tell us, "In the world you will have tribulation," but, there is the follow-on Christ gave us, ""take heart; I have overcome the world." See, that says I can overcome the suffering, even to a great extent right now. Right now, I am recovering from knee surgery, and sometimes it hurts; bad. Other times, not so much, and, in the meantime, I think of that very trailing verse out of John. He has overcome the world [of tribulation], and I can, too, having faith on his word.

It appears your knee injury brought you closer John in the Bible. Maybe another serious injury will lead you to Jesus.

Maybe death will lead him to GOD.

But I doubt it.

We are inherently selfish organisms and must suffer more or less accordingly...So perhaps consciousness and intellect affords us options, but it's fair to say that some are afforded more options than others...Thus far I have been comparatively fortunate, for which I am thankful...Thankful that I was afforded better options...Afforded such by influences that I had no control over.

Who said I am alienated from Jesus Christ? I didn't.

A second knee injury will certainly enhance your faith since the first injury did not alienated you from Jesus Christ.

Now you've got it.

Yes, your faith is placed in your knees.

"Misfortune weighs most heavily on those who expect nothing but good fortune." - Topic Title

I suppose it 'can.

People used to and expecting misfortune, perhaps sometimes are trained and braced for it by their experiences and expectations.

Though I also expect such might 'wear on a person, depressed but solid against misfortune, they endure, but are weathered away over time,

Sadness, depression, cutting shorter their years.

A person only expecting good fortune,

Well, if they are not 'bothered by the bad fortune, but keep ready expectations of good fortune in the future, if they readily engage and combat their bad fortune. Could make do rather well I think.

There's something to be said for optimism and a cheerful attitude.

But then, one also has those expecting of good fortune, who put all their hopes on that 'one good fortune, who can't comprehend that such bad would happen.

One has those expecting bad fortune, who nonetheless meet it readily and cheerful.

Well prepared, and no shocks of surprise, no carpets pulled out under 'their feet.

But perhaps they do not so readily plan for success. . .

Hm,

1, Expect Good Fortune,

2, Expect Bad Fortune,

3, Expect Mixed Fortune,

4, Expect Chance Fortune,

6, Expects Nothing of Fortune,

Expect X Fortune, but doesn't mind the bad,

Expect X Fortune, but minds the bad,

Expectations or not, how one meets it plays a large roll I think.

Heh,

Still, there is a reason people sometimes lower their expectations or brace themselves with the possibility of bad fortune. It can be a shock to the system, a disappointment.

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

"The prisoner who had lost faith in the future—his future —was doomed. With his loss of belief in the future, he also lost his spiritual hold; he let himself decline and became subject to mental and physical decay. Usually this happened quite suddenly, in the form of a crisis, the symptoms of which were familiar to the experienced camp inmate. We all feared this moment—not for ourselves, which would have been pointless, but for our friends. Usually it began with the prisoner refusing one morning to get dressed and wash or to go out on the parade grounds. No entreaties, no blows, no threats had any effect. He just lay there, hardly moving. If this crisis was brought about by an illness, he refused to be taken to the sick-bay or to do anything to help himself. He simply gave up. There he remained, lying in his own excreta, and nothing bothered him any more.

I once had a dramatic demonstration of the close link between the loss of faith in the future and this dangerous giving up. F, my senior block warden, a fairly well-known composer and librettist, confided in me one day: "I would like to tell you something, Doctor. I have had a strange dream. A voice told me that I could wish for something, that I should only say what I wanted to know, and all my questions would be answered. What do you think I asked? That I would like to know when the war would be over for me. You know what I mean, Doctor—for me! I wanted to know when we, when our camp, would be liberated and our sufferings come to an end."

"And when did you have this dream?" I asked. "In February, 1945," he answered. It was then the beginning of March. "What did your dream voice answer?" Furtively he whispered to me, "March thirtieth." When F told me about his dream, he was still full of hope and convinced that the voice of his dream would be right. But as the promised day drew nearer, the war news which reached our camp made it appear very unlikely that we would be free on the promised date. On March twenty-ninth, F suddenly became ill and ran a high temperature. On March thirtieth, the day his prophecy had told him that the war and suffering would be over for him, he became delirious and lost consciousness. On March thirty-first, he was dead. To all outward appearances, he had died of typhus.

Those who know how close the connection is between the state of mind of a man—his courage and hope, or lack of them—and the state of immunity of his body will understand that the sudden loss of hope and courage can have a deadly effect. The ultimate cause of my friend's death was that the expected liberation did not come and he was severely disappointed. This suddenly lowered his body's resistance against the latent typhus infection. His faith in the future and his will to live had become paralyzed and his body fell victim to illness—and thus the voice of his dream was right after all.

The observations of this one case and the conclusion drawn from them are in accordance with something that was drawn to my attention by the chief doctor of our concentration camp. The death rate in the week between Christmas, 1944, and New Year's, 1945, increased in camp beyond all previous experience. In his opinion, the explanation for this increase did not lie in the harder working conditions or the deterioration of our food supplies or a change of weather or new epidemics. It was simply that the majority of the prisoners had lived in the naive hope that they would be home again by Christmas. As the time drew near and there was no encouraging news, the prisoners lost courage and disappointment overcame them. This had a dangerous influence on their powers of resistance and a great number of them died.

As we said before, any attempt to restore a man's inner strength in the camp had first to succeed in showing him some future goal. Nietzsche's words, "He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how," could be the guiding motto for all psychotherapeutic and psychohygienic efforts regarding prisoners. Whenever there was an opportunity for it, one had to give them a why—an aim—for their lives, in order to strengthen them to bear the terrible how of their existence. Woe to him who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on. He was soon lost. The typical reply with which such a man rejected all encouraging arguments was, "I have nothing to expect from life any more." What sort of answer can one give to that?

What was really needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfil the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual."

The Bible makes that easy by setting the expectations early.