Hope: What is hope really?
#Hope
We all need hope in this time. But what is hope really?
I came across this great explanation recently from C.R. Snyder's work. Snyder says hope comes from the "trilogy" of:
- Goals - ability to set realistic goals
- Pathways - we can develop a path to those goals, including adjusting our path and finding alternate paths as needed
- Agency - we believe we are capable of getting there
I believe that as we struggle with hope right now during COVID-19 pandemic and many other uncertainties in our collective lives, understanding what hope is can be helpful.
What gets in the way of being full of hope?
If you are feeling hopeless, evaluate these 3 things.
Sometimes we feel hopeless because you don't have realistic goals. What is your passion? What gives you energy or inspires you? Set goals to work towards such things.
Sometimes we feel hopeless because we have a goal, but we don't see any path to get there. If all the roads we see lead away from our goal, than this can leave us lacking hope. This can mean a few things - our goal is not realistic (revisit the goal, break it down) or it can just mean we need more input to find the path. If we find ourselves here, it can be best to share our goals with someone else, and whatever paths we think won't work. I recognize that sharing our ideas is incredibly vulnerable, but it can give us great new insights if we share with people we trust.
Sometimes, we feel hopeless because not everything is in our control, or in other words we don't have agency over everything. How can we set goals, and develop pathways, such that we can believe we are capable of getting to our goal? See when we take control of setting goals and we find a path to get there, then the agency can become apparent.
I do want to highlight that while I mention control with agency, I don't believe agency means we have total control. We will never have total control, and that is why the pathways component requires an ability to adjust and find alternate paths. Agency however is the belief that we can in fact get there.
What gets in the way for you?
What gets in the way for you in feeling hopeful?
Which of these attributes do you struggle with?
How has vulnerably sharing your goals and paths helped you find new insight and more hope?