If you need some hope, this is for you

I had always thought of hope as a small wish, an innocent intention or prayer, that the future would somehow become better and things would magically change on their own.

I didn't think of hope as an emotion, like when people say they are "feeling hopeful", but I have certainly said, "I hope things will get better," for people when I was unable to do more for them.

I thought hope was a bit useless because the common way most people think of "hope" means we believe we cannot do anything about the situation but wish for the best and deep down often fear the worst.

So my approach to staying "hopeful" has been that we are just leaving it to destiny, and 'someone' or 'something' else will decide if our wishes come true or not.

Then I chose Brene Brown's book "Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead" for a book club.

This is a substantial book, including a lot of researched wisdom and real-life, relatable examples that I like.

There are two insights that deeply influenced me in this book, and one of them is how she explains hope.

Here it comes, the true explanation about hope that I, as a coach, could not love more:

"Hope is not an emotion; it's a way of thinking or a cognitive process.

Emotions play a supporting role, but hope is really a thought process made up of goals, pathways, and agency.

Hope happens when:

We have the ability to set realistic goals:

I know where I want to go.

We are able to figure out how to achieve those goals, including the ability to stay flexible and develop alternative routes:

I know how to get there, I'm persistent, and I can tolerate disappointment and try again.

We believe in ourselves:

I can do this!

Hope is Plan B."

This means:

There's always hope.

It's always available for us.

We can consciously create hope.

The way to do it, is to take action, do what we can and then leave it there.

It’s the same with worries, when you can do something about it, it’s a good worry. If not, let go of it.

In what areas of life you want to create more hope?

Happy Friday,

Jenni

P.S. Happy Work-Life Project has a new home at Substack