As we step further and further into the light this month, you might have noticed we keep on talking about hope and the importance of being able to imagine a state different to the one you are currently in (assuming of course you have some kind of desire for your life to change in some way). Hope isn’t just some kind of blind optimism of a fantasy future that can never be attained, but rather, it is something that we can “expect with confidence” or to “cherish a desire with anticipation”. Even in Biblical terms, hope was translated as “to trust and wait expectantly”. Hope has never been about froth and bubble, but about getting excited about a future memory. 

We think it’s worth thinking on these definitions, as one of the things that we know happens when we have hope is that it brings happiness to the current situation, as well as making it more likely that the thing we want will eventuate. 

Hope isn’t just about sitting in our garages, legs crossed and Ohming until a Ferrari appears, it is about making plans, being motivated and getting determined to achieve them. Perhaps you might have have heard yourself say something like, “I hope to win lotto this week,” however hope probably wasn’t really what you were doing. The idea of wining the lottery is more likely a nice fanciful wish. Of course wishes and fantasies are totally fun to indulge in, and perhaps they may form the foundation of something that will later become hope, but left alone, they are really not much more than wisps of fairy dust to delight us on a dark day. 

Studies show us that children who grow up in poverty and then have later success in life all have one thing in common: hope. 

So how to we cultivate this hope?

The Dalai Lama tells us that the first part of hope is to adopt a long-sighted approach, one where we are willing to widen our perspective and to add knowledge as we go along, always with the long game in mind. 

This seems to go along with what the psychologists tell us, and in fact Benjamin Hardy tells us there are eight keys to fostering more hope in our lives:

1. Recognise past wins (when you have achieved some thing you hoped for)

2. Meditate or pray to get you in a nice frame of mind

3. Choose the third way (we will explain this in the podcast)- getting creative creates hope

4. Turn off the media

5. Create “if, then” scenarios (solutions to your stops and blocks)

6. Cheer for yourself and celebrate: the fastest way to build a habit is to add enthusiasm

7. Frame failure as feedback.. that old growth mindset again..

8. Help others to have hope.

This week it’s time for you to get real with yourself. Your job is to really have a look at something you’ve been saying you hope to have in your life. It’s time to admit it: do you actually HOPE for it? Are you willing to take some action? Or is it just a nice fantasy? It could be something you hope for yourself, your family or even the world. Whatever it is, we want you to get some clarity on what it is, and what your life will be life when it occurs. Then get an image that reflects this thing/event/experience and make it your screensaver, your wallpaper on your phone, and even print out a picture to pin to your mirror. 

You will be surprised at what unfolds when you bring light and hope to the life of your dreams. 

Time to click!