Ponderings (January 2009) - “HOPE”
According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary …
Hope is “to cherish a desire with anticipation; to desire with expectation of obtainment; to expect with confidence”
Sharing my thoughts …
When faced with a difficult situation, I can respond with hope or despair. Despair deflates my energy and creates a “what’s the use” attitude. Whereas hope inflates my energy and creates a “yes I can” attitude. So I’d much rather be filled with hope. So when I experience despair, I acknowledge it without holding onto it, and instead put my energies into turning it into feelings of hope. Even if the situation is dire and the outcome that I want is not possible, I can be hopeful that there will be something useful to be learned in the situation. With hope I am open to the possibilities. With despair, nothing is possible. I’d rather be open to the possibilities. How about you?
Questions to ponder …
- When you feel despair, what can you do to turn it into hope?
- What are the situations that make you feel hopeless? Feel hopeful?
- What are you hoping for in your business life this year? Your personal life?
- Describe a recent experience where you felt hopeful? How did it turn out?
- Describe a recent experience where you felt hopeless? How did it turn out?
- What is the effect of hope on your emotions, thoughts and physical body?
- What is the effect of despair on your emotions, thoughts and physical body?
- What do you experience when you are around someone who is full of despair? Of hope?
Related quotes …
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. [Albert Einstein]
Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out. [Vaclav Havel]
Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today. [Thich Nhat Hanh]
We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. [Barack Obama]
