Finding Hope in Uncertain Times

At the present time, our political climate is making many of us feel more uncertainty in our lives than usual. Unfortunately, the strategies most of us rely on when we can’t predict the future are self-defeating. These include worry, complaint, and pessimism. But dealing with turbulent times is a challenge that certain people rise up to meet with hope and resilience. Such an attitude needs to be developed if you want to achieve success despite the ups and downs the future will bring, and inspiring hope in others is essential if you want to be a leader.

What does it mean to have hope? We all pay lip service with sentiments like, “I hope it all works out,” but this is often just a way of backing out and disengaging from a hard situation. Real hope comes from a deeper source, the core of the self. At this core some important qualities determine how much hope you feel and can offer to others. Hope is essential in dealing with the common business uncertainties like learning a new position, layoffs, leadership changes, or company growth.

The primary qualities of hope are strength, resilience, and optimism. Strength enables you to call upon your own personal power. Resilience means that you can bounce back from disruptions and setbacks. Optimism radiates hope for the future. As you can see, these qualities are the opposite of worry, complaint, and pessimism. Instead of being self-defeating, they enhance one’s self-esteem. If you are strong, resilient, and optimistic enough, you can also lift others out of their self-defeating attitudes.

Hope is needed in a crisis, of course, but it should serve as a core value every day. The arrival of uncertain times can be a national or global event, yet uncertainty is present under ordinary business conditions with unpredictable markets, sales, and internal rivalry. Nor does the situation have to be negative—a promising startup company experiences uncertainty as part of its genetics.

Let’s look a little closer at the qualities of hope and how to develop them in yourself.

Strength: Most people are far too willing to give away their power, and nothing is more hopeless than being powerless. This sometimes shows up in business where a staff member or executive routinely domineers conversations or speaks confidently, despite unsaid disagreement among peers. Often, other people are willing to “go along with” the leader because it’s easier than voicing an opposite opinion. Keeping your power means that you stand up for yourself, don’t kowtow, overcome resistance, and turn a crisis into an opportunity. Too often, however, the image that comes to mind when we think of a strongman connotes ruthless egotism and competition, along with the ability to step on other people and crush rivals.

Real strength is actually founded on a core of quiet calm; it’s the still point that isn’t disturbed by the rise and fall of events and the turbulence of emotions. There is no need for external bluster and ruthless competitiveness, which is good news, because few of us are truly ruthless. By finding inner strength, we establish a sense of power that lasts for a lifetime and anchors our family and those we want to uplift and encourage.

Resilience: If you look at the elderly who survive in good health to great old age, especially those who reach 100, they are not hard-bitten survivors. Nor are they lucky winners in the gene pool or somehow immune to life’s woes. Instead, their most marked trait is resilience, the ability to come through hard times by bouncing back instead of being pushed down and defeated. Resilience is the real secret to never becoming a victim.

Resilience isn’t about positive thinking—when sad events occur, it’s emotionally healthy to be sad; when loss occurs, grief is called for. The question is how to recover and return to a state of wellbeing. This is accomplished at the core of the self, where sadness and grief are felt more lightly and then allowed to pass, leaving behind the simple but profound feeling, “Here I am.” In other words, resilience derives from a strong sense of being. When leaders face times of hardship, chaos, or uncertainty, they project and communicate an attitude of, “We will get through this together.”

Optimism: Society teaches us that life is hard, that constant vigilance and struggle are often the norm, and that the safest place to live is behind defensive walls. Against this backdrop, optimism seems unrealistic, even foolish. We may secretly envy the innocently cheerful personalities we sometimes meet, but the hard realities favor cynicism, pessimism, and skepticism. Yet these attitudes are actually born of fear and lack of trust.

Optimism is the attitude that life can take care of itself. It is grounded in the belief that each of us has a place in the grand scheme of things and is valued for who we are. You can’t turn to outside events to discover this level of trust, because outside events always foster uncertainty. Even when turbulence yields negative consequences in the moment, such as being laid off from your job, it is often the right thing. After time, many people report that being let go from a company ended up being the best thing to ever happen to them. This is because for new opportunities to present themselves, old ones need to close. The world’s wisdom traditions teach that time cannot be conquered; it will always bring a mixture of pleasure and pain. But at the core of the self is our essence, which is timeless. This essence is unshakable, and because it is imbued with peace and joy, optimism naturally flows from this deeper level of the self.

I’ve offered a sketch of how to find lasting hope and inspire it in others, but nothing is a substitute for experiencing these qualities of strength, resilience, and optimism yourself. The experience is available through meditation, which opens the way to the core of the self. Starting April 10, I invite you to participate for free in the upcoming 21-Day Meditation Experience, Hope in Uncertain Times, which will immerse you in the full scope of what it means to have hope from a deep level.

Deepak Chopra MD, FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation and co-founder of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation, and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolism. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, Clinical Professor UCSD Medical School, researcher, Neurology and Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. The World Post and The Huffington Post global internet survey ranked Chopra #17 influential thinker in the world and #1 in Medicine. Chopra is the author of more than 85 books translated into over 43 languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. His latest books are You Are the Universe co-authored with Menas Kafatos, PhD, and Quantum Healing (Revised and Updated): Exploring the Frontiers of Mind/Body Medicine. discoveringyourcosmicself.com