“Hope is the companion of power and mother of success; for who so hopes strongly has within him the gift of miracles.”
Samuel Smiles
Hope. When it’s there, we can feel it. It has a power that can motivate us, encourage us, uplift and inspire us. When it’s not there, it can be easy to forget its importance. When things get rough it can be hard to remember to connect with hope, but it is during these times that we benefit the most from being hopeful. Hope is an energy, a mindset of openness and possibility that looks to the future, serving as a guiding light towards what could be and leading us onward with positive focus.
When we connect with hope in the present moment it transforms our feelings and thoughts immediately, bringing a broader perspective to current situations. Being hopeful is a practice and it takes practice to bring hope forward. We invite you to practice connecting with hope and notice the shifts that it brings.
Here are 7 tips to invite hope and its benefits into your life:
#1 – Open to possibility. In order to be hopeful, one must be open. We must recognize that the future is not written; anything can happen and there is always the potential for dreams and desires to be realized. When we start to close down, to decide things are a certain way or that there will be a particular outcome we lose connection with our ability to hope. When we soften and become open to the unknown, to possibility, we can regain hope. There are no guarantees but there are infinite possibilities, some beyond our wildest dreams.
#2 – Let go of expectations but don’t lose hope. Holding on to expectations is a form of stubbornness. When we expect something, we leave no room for alternatives or possibilities. This type of stuck thinking can lead to disappointment and upset when our expectations are not met. When we get in the habit of constantly creating expectations and focusing our attention on whether or not those expectations are met it becomes a closed tunnel through which we are trying to direct our lives. Releasing our expectations breaks us out of that tunnel into a place of openness and receptivity.
Some may confuse expectation for hope but they are very different. Expectation is something you anticipate while hope is something that you desire. Letting go of expectations does not mean we must also lose hope. In fact, letting them go may even create more room for hope! Hope is an openness practice, based on the great possibilities that lie ahead, rather than the finite decisions we might outline as the plan for our future. Hope is recognizing that there is always more coming our way, more options, change, growth, joy, love, abundance – regardless of what our expectations may be and whether or not they get met. There is no end to hope. Let go of your expectations and find your hope instead.
#3 – Consider the alternatives. An easy way to bring in a hopeful energy is to look at a situation that you’re in and consider its opposite. Then consider all of the possibilities between those two opposites, the alternatives. Sometimes we get focused on what is and forget about all that can or could be. Be aware of the greater picture. When we step back and remember the duality of life, we see that hope is always there, lingering in the space of possibility, of the invisible. Recognizing the things that we can’t see, or don’t see right away, makes us realize that just because we don’t see them, doesn’t mean that they cannot be or are not already there and that they are indeed possible and attainable.
#4 – Daydream. Ah the imagination. What a gift we have been given to be able to dream. To think, to create, to orchestrate our own hopes, dreams and desires. As children, the imagination is easily accessible. We are born creative dreamers. As we grow, we must continue to practice and exercise our imagination; it can grow even more powerful the more we use it. However, sometimes we get busy with this world of matter and we spend less and less time in the world of the imagination. Create time and space for yourself to consider possibilities, push the limits of your imagination, free your mind. There are no limits to hope.
#5 – Choose positivity. Hope is allowing optimistic thinking to inspire your positive desires. Being hopeful is a choice, one that can be made both unconsciously and consciously. When presented with the opportunity to look at the good or the bad, choose to look at the good. Shifting focus to the things in your life or in a situation that make you happy and feel good doesn’t mean you ignore unhappy things that may be happening. It just means that you highlight and lean into the things that support you, allowing them to help you face the things that do not. And when you struggle to find anything positive in this current moment to connect with, there is always hope. Hope is always there and you have the power to create hope at any time, you need only choose to.
#6 – Look where you are going. Having hopes and aspirations gives us purpose and direction while we move forward through life. When times get rough, being hopeful can give us something to look forward to that helps us move through difficulty or challenge. If we feel burdened by mistakes of the past or discomfort, rather than looking back and having our primary focus be on these things, we can shift our attention to what can be and release the past. Hopefulness has an open quality to it that is able to evolve and change as our lives evolve and change. Although we can use our hopes as a target to focus on, unlike set goals or expectations, hope combines focus with openness, creating balance!
#7 – Be present and allow. Hope isn’t a way out, it’s a way through. It enhances the present moment, by infusing it with possibility, optimism and creativity. Hope makes this current moment lighter and although it brings with it thoughts of the future, the act of hoping occurs in this very moment. It unites this now moment with the ever present potential of the next moment. It connects us with the abundance of life as we realize the infinite possibilities and limitless nature of existence. Be present and allow the hopes within you to emerge. They are always there, it is our nature to create and to dream.
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