One of my clients recently said,”I am working on just seeking positive energy.” I responded, “Well positive energy is always found in hope.” To which she said, “I gotta write that down.” And I said, “Me too!” lol
In a world that often feels overwhelming and unpredictable, and sometimes hits so hard that it takes our breath away; hope is our oxygen. Hope is a motivator, a reason to try, a reason to take a step or to get out of bed or start a new thing. It is the sunrise every morning, the melting snow in the spring, a lighthouse on the open sea. Like the flash light on our phones, hope lights up the darkness and shows us the way.
One of my favorite verses from the Bible is in Hebrews and says “We have this hope as an anchor for our souls, firm and secure.” Hope not only keeps us from drowning and holds us steady, it also inspires us to do great things. Who wants to do college if not for the destination, and for real, who would choose child birth if not for the baby. Hope.
We all need hope and we all have hope; why else would we do anything hard? We do it with the hope that it will bring good results. The question is not do we have hope, the question is how much are we focusing on it?
Attuning to hope is like filling up on gas, we are going to run out if we aren’t regularly deliberately seeking it. Hope is like a warm fire, if we do not intermittently stoke that flame, eventually the fire goes out and there’s nothing left but the cold and darkness.
Hope is The Good Stuff
Hope is always available to us. It’s the belief that good things are coming, that hard will pass, that the effort will be worth it, that challenges can be overcome, and that dreams can be realized. In the face of the hard, hope acts as a resilient force, providing the strength and direction to move through anything, however slowly, one step at a time.
Hope makes us fight, it propels us forward, it infuses us with power and confidence. The mere act of hoping is believing that good things are possible, and this belief is the source of “good energy.”
Deliberately Seek Hope
Maybe the opposite of hope is not hopeless but rather regret, injustice, loss, or powerlessness; when attention is set on these things it will surely lead to hopelessness. To seek hope would mean to look away from regret, grieve but take a break from loss and injustice, and find something that is in your control rather than staring at what is not.
Hope, like gratitude, lifts up the inner being even in the midst of the hard and heavy.
Zoom in on Hope
I love to take pictures, to capture just the right look and secure all the great moments. Some have said that by the time the last baby comes, there are not many pictures. Not so with me, there may be more because I understood how fast it all goes and wanted to savor every good moment. In my family, if someone didn’t want me to take a picture I’d say, “What are ya, new?” lol
The thing about taking pictures is that you must look for the beautiful, then zoom in, out of the chaos of life and the everything that didn’t work out, to this one moment, this one thing; you must focus on the good. And in so doing, our facebook, framed pictures, photo albums, and scrapbooks are filled with the good stuff. No one is filling a photo album of the terrible and, I promise you, I am not posting (or even keeping) an ugly photo of myself! I am not posting or scrapbooking all my mistakes and failures, nor all the bad things of my life. This is not because they don’t exist, seriously, I take a photo until I think I look good! Then I edit it! And you all should too! It’s not for others, it’s so that you can feel good about you, as you should!
Take time to zoom in on what you hope for, crop out all the unnecessary and all the distracting noises around (even if just for a few minutes here and there), close your eyes and picture it, breathe it in, believe it will be so. Because here’s the thing, it’s the future and we cannot predict it anyway so might as well make it good! Science calls this the law of attraction and faith says it is speaking things as though they were.
Wherever you are looking, that is where you’re aiming, make sure it’s where you want to go.
Fill up on Hope in Everyday Life
- Cultivate a Positive Mindset: Train your mind to focus on the good rather than zoom in on the bad. Use mindfulness to deliberately fix your eyes on what you hope for. Believe the good is coming; a growth mindset says, “I don’t have this… yet.”
- Connect with Supportive Communities: Surround yourself with people who radiate hope and positivity. Shared experiences and encouragement within a supportive community multiplies hope.
- Practice Gratitude: Acknowledge and appreciate the positive aspects of your life, past and present. Gratitude cultivates a hopeful perspective by highlighting the goodness that already exists. Remember that you have survived all the hard things of your life so far and be confident that you will now and in the future, as well.
Let Hope Fill You Up Until There is No Room for Doubt.
Good energy is always found in hope. When we carry hope in our mind and heart, we become conduits of positive energy, spreading light throughout our lives and the lives of others. Take hold of hope and, if you find yourself in the middle of the hard, hold on for dear life!
May your mind and heart be filled with hope, taken over with the same intensity of a great movie, in a dark theater, with surround sound.