Hope, A Reminder for All
Spring has arrived, flowers are blooming even in our cactus-filled landscape, mornings are getting brighter earlier and evenings stretching the daylight longer. As we embark on our new season, let’s take a moment to examine “hope”.
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word hope is described as "confidence in the future," especially "God or Christ as a basis for hope," from the 1300s. As early as 1200, hope is described as the "expectation of something desired;" and also "trust, confidence; wishful desire;". The idea of hope is a leap of faith. Hope implies that there is a belief in the unknown, the intangible, and with the optimistic outlook, a plan to create and follow.
Hope, to me, is one of the most quietly powerful words there is. It doesn’t have strength in the shock power of words like—war, terror, hurricane. It also doesn’t have sexy appeal like the words; beach, lipstick, resort. Hope as a word is a bit like the word air. A short word, a word that has no definite shape to envision and enlighten your senses, it just sits on the page until you really take in the significance. There would be no life without air, can’t we say the same about hope?
Hope is physically exemplified for me most during the spring. The noticeable changes to our landscape mark the passing of time in such a way that really drives home the beauty in our everyday world. Our desert landscape, brown much of the winter, appears more fertile in the spring with the citrus in bloom and the cactus soon following. Vibrant bursts of color appear out of what looked ominous—a thorny cactus one day seemingly unchanging, the next adorned with the equivalent of a flower in its hair. I see these changes, and I see hope. I relate that slow growing cactus to daily life, many days going through the repetitive motions we each tire of to a vibrant change of that bold colored flower on the cactus, shocking us out of the mundane. An awareness that was previously unseen takes hold and, from that, hope arises.
A recent article was written by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times about hope. In it, he discusses the generations of despair of poverty-stricken areas of our world and the cyclical pattern of poverty, despair, loss of hope. The stunning, and dare I say hopeful, part of the article came in his reporting of a recent studies showing that once people are exposed to hope and understand that they can change their lives, they do so. He interviewed Esther Duflo, a co-author of the study and economist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who states, “Poverty causes stress and depression and lack of hope, and stress and depression and lack of hope, in turn, cause poverty.” The point to this article was not to shine a spotlight on poverty, but quite the contrary, to shine a light on just what hope will do to incur change.
How does hope affect you and your life? Are you an optimistic person? Are you a goal setter? Are you spiritual? Feeding the hope in your life doesn’t need to be complicated, here are a few ideas to get you started. Hope inspires hope. Spend time with friends or family who are optimistic and hopeful. Watch a TED talk or video that inspires hope. Meditate. Envision what hope looks like to you, a beach, a mountaintop view, graduation ceremonies, a flower growing out of a thorny cactus. Focus on the area you need the most hope. Write it down. Map out several different ways to get to that which you are hoping for and implement your plan.
For more information on hope, see: An Emotion We All Need More of; Hope is a crucial element of our well-being; psychologists can teach people to gain or restore hope by Bernstein, Elizabeth. Wall Street Journal (Online) [New York, N.Y] 21 Mar 2016: n/a.
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word hope is described as "confidence in the future," especially "God or Christ as a basis for hope," from the 1300s. As early as 1200, hope is described as the "expectation of something desired;" and also "trust, confidence; wishful desire;". The idea of hope is a leap of faith. Hope implies that there is a belief in the unknown, the intangible, and with the optimistic outlook, a plan to create and follow.
Hope, to me, is one of the most quietly powerful words there is. It doesn’t have strength in the shock power of words like—war, terror, hurricane. It also doesn’t have sexy appeal like the words; beach, lipstick, resort. Hope as a word is a bit like the word air. A short word, a word that has no definite shape to envision and enlighten your senses, it just sits on the page until you really take in the significance. There would be no life without air, can’t we say the same about hope?
Hope is physically exemplified for me most during the spring. The noticeable changes to our landscape mark the passing of time in such a way that really drives home the beauty in our everyday world. Our desert landscape, brown much of the winter, appears more fertile in the spring with the citrus in bloom and the cactus soon following. Vibrant bursts of color appear out of what looked ominous—a thorny cactus one day seemingly unchanging, the next adorned with the equivalent of a flower in its hair. I see these changes, and I see hope. I relate that slow growing cactus to daily life, many days going through the repetitive motions we each tire of to a vibrant change of that bold colored flower on the cactus, shocking us out of the mundane. An awareness that was previously unseen takes hold and, from that, hope arises.
A recent article was written by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times about hope. In it, he discusses the generations of despair of poverty-stricken areas of our world and the cyclical pattern of poverty, despair, loss of hope. The stunning, and dare I say hopeful, part of the article came in his reporting of a recent studies showing that once people are exposed to hope and understand that they can change their lives, they do so. He interviewed Esther Duflo, a co-author of the study and economist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who states, “Poverty causes stress and depression and lack of hope, and stress and depression and lack of hope, in turn, cause poverty.” The point to this article was not to shine a spotlight on poverty, but quite the contrary, to shine a light on just what hope will do to incur change.
How does hope affect you and your life? Are you an optimistic person? Are you a goal setter? Are you spiritual? Feeding the hope in your life doesn’t need to be complicated, here are a few ideas to get you started. Hope inspires hope. Spend time with friends or family who are optimistic and hopeful. Watch a TED talk or video that inspires hope. Meditate. Envision what hope looks like to you, a beach, a mountaintop view, graduation ceremonies, a flower growing out of a thorny cactus. Focus on the area you need the most hope. Write it down. Map out several different ways to get to that which you are hoping for and implement your plan.
For more information on hope, see: An Emotion We All Need More of; Hope is a crucial element of our well-being; psychologists can teach people to gain or restore hope by Bernstein, Elizabeth. Wall Street Journal (Online) [New York, N.Y] 21 Mar 2016: n/a.