It All Starts With Hope

“Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things.”

Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption

We can survive anything if we have hope. Illness, poverty, repression, professional problems, relationship problems, loneliness, fear . . . all of these things are survivable, manageable even, if we have something better we are looking forward to.

Because when we are on our way to something better, then by definition any current troubles are only temporary.

The word hope is defined as “A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.”

So, what do you desire to have happen in your life? What positive developments, what better future, do you pine for with every fiber of your being? If you can answer those questions, then you have found the vessel that will bring you through dark times to brighter skies. Answer those questions, and you have found your hope. That’s the first step in all of this "feeling better" stuff.

So what are you hoping for, really? Better health? A fix for your financial problems? More professional freedom? True love or friendship? Adventure? A more peaceful life? A life-changing vacation? All of those things?

I want you, today, to write down at least five things you’re hoping for. These things can be broad or specific, gargantuan or small, “realistic” or pie-in-the-sky—it doesn’t matter. Just make that list today, and then focus your mind’s eye on the images that occupy that list. Really allow your heart to see the things you hope for, and then believe—with that same visionary heart—that these things are just around the corner for you.

If you have hope, then every morning you can wake up and say, “I know that today is getting me closer to something better.” If you have hope, then every night as you go to bed you can say, “I know that tomorrow will bring me closer to those better things, too.”

With hope, the time that sits before you is always full of possibility. Even when you are enduring enormous challenges and difficulties, hope can bring light to your current time because it shows you the gifts, solutions, and improvements that the next hour and day and week and year will bring.

Trust me, there is a path to get from whatever problems you are experiencing right now to a better place, and it starts with hope.

NEXT STEPS

* MAKE A LIST OF AT LEAST FIVE THINGS YOU HOPE FOR IN THE COMING 12 MONTHS.

*MAKE A LIST OF AT LEAST FIVE THINGS YOU WILL DO TO HELP BRING ABOUT YOUR "HOPED FOR" CHANGES.

* KEEP THE ABOVE LISTS IN A JOURNAL, BINDER, OR FOLDER, AND USE THEM AS A STARTING POINT FOR YOUR HEALING/GROWTH JOURNEY IN THE COMING MONTHS.