The power in Hope
For a long time, I have been exploring the concept of hope and trying to establish what it means for me as I journey through life experiencing many challenges, some of which are protracted or situational. In some cases, living and driving through these life experiences seems like traversing through forests, mountains, deserts, valleys as I conjure up all kinds of metaphors to define this space. Many a time, my esteem is held firmly strengthened by hope and that is what I want us to take a dive in to harness its understanding in managing life especially in the context of Covid 19.
Many of us are battered and in as much as we need to appreciate the pain and suffering we are thrown into, it still remains pivotal to recognize how we can recalibrate ourselves to pursue a fulfilled life beyond our struggles. Hope can build our inner strength and increase our resilience to bounce back to life but the question remains: what is hope and what are the virtues inherent within it; and what strategies do we need to stand against the bullets constantly thrown against us.
Hope can be defined differently depending on our world view. However, in this context, it (hope) is viewed as that (no matter what that is – verb or noun) which gives us a reason to want or desire to keep on going on in life amidst the challenges we may be experiencing. Hope therefore is that which gives a living human being the capacity to cherish, looking forward or futurity with a desirous spirit that things are or will get better. Hence hope is found in the state of our mindsets and therefore functions or exists with invisibility. Hope nurtures our internal expectations often with positivity and will cause us to believe that what we desire or want will in some foreseeable future truly happen and or come to pass.
Hope therefore is the work of the mind working in alignment with the spirit that is in a person because it (hope) is dealing with things that do not exist in the tangible part of our physical world but more with holding on to a positive assumption that your expectation in an invisible world will surely come to fruition. That is why if you are expecting something to happen and it does happen, then it is no longer hope because our hope has come to reality. Hope is about believing that what you are expecting powerfully influences other things in our world view and that may touch on the attitudes. In our mindsets then, hope causes one to look with a cheering perspective that says, things will happen though we may not have all the details as to how it will happen, hence we choose to hold on with expectation. So, hope works in the realm of faith as it plants resolute expectation of good thought patterns and promotes healthy emotional and perspectival wellbeing to arise within us. Often, a person who has great hope tends to brew corresponding thoughts of good and healthy outcomes and that shapes the condition of our mental well-being.
In taking just a basic understanding of hope, we could appreciate that we are looking at a doing word that actions us into cultivating a positive mindset towards our anticipations hence the wish to reap positive outcomes and or results. Hope therefore nurtures attributes and virtues of confidence and instillation of trust and maintains an outlook of positivity as we settle in our confidence yielding a good harvest. Our expectation therefore ought to remain optimistic in continuing to believe and trust because anything contrary will yield counterproductive results.
Hope therefore is foundational in building our faith, which is a critical construct as we trust that consequently this will bring satisfaction and fulfilment. In our hope we find expectations that are filled with our desires, inclinations, yearnings, wishes, dreams, visions, purpose, aims, goals, plans and destinies and we know that “For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off” (Proverbs 23:18). Of critical importance, please note that hope is not a passive process engaged into by people who have tried all and failed and now come to hope as the last resort. No. Hope is an active process that strengthens, empowers and lays a solid foundation for a fulfilling healthy self-actualization.