The Need for a Universal Core Value

A few weeks ago I published an article entitled It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Don't Feel Fine). I still would not say “I feel fine”, but rather I would say “I am better and hopeful”, as I have settled into a routine of sheltering in place for now almost five weeks. One benefit of this time is it allows for more self-reflection and exploration, and it is with this time that I have been reflecting a lot about hopefulness and in turn resiliency. 

I started where you would expect (on Google), and my first combination of words in the search bar led me to a blog post by Chan Hellman, PhD, and Casey Gwinn, J.D. entitled Dr. Seuss, Resilience, and the Science of HOPE. After reading the post and some reference checking, I took away and was convinced of these three learnings as it relates to hope and resilience:

1. Hope is the pathway to resilience
2. Hope is not simply an emotion and there is measurable science that it can be learned and sustained
3. Hope is the single best indicator of well-being

In the blog there was a reference to Snyder’s Hope Theory, so I googled that next and was struck by the Snyder’s definition of hope and the simple framework of his theory:

After exploring hope, I then became even more curious about resilience after listening to Josh Bersin’s recent video on Creating Resilience. This curiosity then led me to this article on the American Psychological Association’s website that was hauntingly published in the calm before the COVID-19 storm on February 1, 2020. Building your resilience is worthy of the full read, but the key points I took away were these strategies that were shared to build resilience: 

• Build your connections (prioritize relationships, join a group)
• Foster wellness (take care of your body, practice mindfulness, avoid negative outlets)
• Find purpose (help others, be proactive, move toward your goals, look for opportunities of self discovery)
• Embrace healthy thoughts (keep things in perspective, accept change, maintain a hopeful outlook, learn from your past)
• Seeking help

When I looked at the strategies, though, I said to myself: “well that makes perfect sense, but none of them seem executable without hope”, reinforcing the point in my mind that Chan and Gwinn had made…

Hope is the pathway to resilience

Continuing my exploration on Google landed me on several TED talks. I watched more than a few but here are three that stuck with me and as well as excerpts from their talks that resonated:

-       Hope is the Most Powerful Force in the World | Somnieng Houern

• “Life + Hope = Change”
• “Life + Hope + Education = Greater Change”
• “Realistic hope comes through simple kindness”

-       Turning surviving into thriving through HOPE | Ann O'Neil

• “Find my experience, and hold it along with my fear, and just begin to take the next step
• “The crap we go through today is the fertilizer that can help us grow and blossom tomorrow”

-       Life is Good and Hope is a Choice | Annie Rose Cole (she gave this talk at age 13!)

• “Are you willing to encourage others to shake off discouragement and never give into despair”

It was after this whirlwind of exploration of hopefulness and resiliency on the internet that I came to the conclusion that every company, family, and individual needs to adopt one common core value. This universal core value is not always easy to abide to and often difficult to maintain consistently. However, I believe this fundamental belief is needed certainly now and into the future by all…

Universal Core Value

Be Hopeful Building Resilience