What Is Hope?

What Is Hope?

“Hope is a gift you don’t have to surrender, a power you don’t have to throw away,”  ~Rebecca Solnit~

What is Hope? Hope has many meanings.  But most importantly hope gives someone the support and solace when faced with an uncertain future.  And it is with that hope that many find a way to be brave, to believe and to overcome any adversity, pain, loss and disease.

Time and again, I am noticing my friends confronted on Facebook with negative comments from the spectrum of  orders of “let it go” to “have you looked at yourself”  to the more blatant vitriolic comments of “fraud, cheat, liar”.

We have been gifted with this beautiful, FREE tool  of Facebook where we can communicate with others, build communities and create a safe-space where we can share our knowledge, impart our own wisdoms and offer others hope and love.  However, some choose to use this platform as a secret mask to pour out anger, fear, hatred, guilt, and to shame others into believing that their posts are harmful and in turn creating false hope.  

But what IS false hope?  I must admit that personally, any kind of hope throughout my life has been a life-line.  Working for the last decade with serious disease, I have encountered scepticism, fear and limiting belief, however, people come to me for HOPE. That is a gift – building that hope into vitality.

Hope that people can survive the label of incurable disease.  Hope that people can ease their own pain. Hope that people will not leave their loved ones suffering and alone.  Hope that there will be a SOUL-lution for them.

Hope is not a new concept within the realms of psychology. In 1991, psychologist Charles R. Snyder and his team created the Hope Theory. According to them, hope consists of agency and pathways.  The person who has hope has the will and purposefulness to achieve their goals.  And they will have specific strategies to reach these goals. It is the WILL to reach these, and this theory offers a variety of ways to achieve this.

So I may offer a suggestion before you become the keyboard warrior of social media?

Before jumping onto that soapbox,  think first “is that a BLAH comment?”. Doreen Virtue said “Be loving and helpful and if for one second you question yourself, please give permission for that hope to blossom and assist others to bloom and thrive.”

Do you disagree? If you do, that is perfectly reasonable. Or are you the one wishing to bring shame and guilt to another? OR are you having a moment of Megalomania?  Or simply for others to hear your voice and be the one that is right? All of these are human behaviours, which I will write about another time…

However now I endeavour to take a moment and choose to promote Hope. You too have choice.