Hope is the belief that the future you imagine can become a reality. Can you make yourself feel more hopeful? I believe you can. It has been my experience and the observation of many others that those who have learned coping skills can survive and even thrive after horrible tragedies.
In his book Images of Hope: Imagination As Healer Of The Hopeless , William Lynch defines hope as the “fundamental knowledge and feeling that there is a way out of difficulty, that things will work out, that we…can somehow handle and mange internal and external reality, that there are solutions.”
A measure of optimism and resiliency brings us hope that with courage we can overcome adversity.
Some ways to assist you in becoming more hopeful are;
- Recognize that two common causes of negative thinking are based on fear and hate. The greatest danger to these emotions is that they shut off your mind from finding solutions. When you are filled with hate or fear, you cannot think of positive outcomes or solutions.
- One of the best solutions to negative emotions is to smile.
Simply smiling will raise your positive feelings and increase your hope. judyhwright.com for more ideas on building resilience. This is a trick that I teach to children who are angry and frustrated. Smile. It is physiologically impossible to smile and hold an negative thought in your mind.
- Re-frame negative and hopeless thoughts. When my husband gets frustrated in traffic and says “Man, I always get in the wrong lane.” I ask him to really think about what he has said because it simply is not true. He may occasionally get in the wrong lane or now and then will be behind a slow driver. “Always” and “Never” are pretty strong words. Words create thoughts and beliefs and what we think about we draw to us.
- Distract yourself from hopeless feelings by actually writing down all the things you Do and Have that have turned out right. When you start actually seeing how much you can do, you will feel better about the few that you cannot do right now.
Thank you for being part of this growing community of kind, thoughtful people who have respect for all. Please go to https://judyhwright.com to sign up for a free 15 minute coaching session if you have not already done so. Be sure to read the blog while you are there and feel free to comment and share with friends and family. We appreciate you.
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