By Jeff Barnes
“I hope you are well”.
“I hope you have a great day.”
Hope, we say it a lot. We use the term in everyday speech, in common phrases and in conversation. It can be used for well wishes or to brighten someone’s mood, but what makes the word hope so powerful? What is the actual importance of this popular four-letter word?
Hope can be defined as a feeling of trust, or as a feeling of expectation or desire for a particular outcome, but again, what importance is a few words from the dictionary? A feeling of trust in what exactly? What is it that we hold in such high esteem?
We fight so hard to remember the past and recall the glory of what was. We tell stories of how things were better and there were more freedoms, where people danced on a weekend, going from hall to hall and socialising in different districts with no competition or rivalry, no alcoholic rages, no drug fuelled frenzies, fast cars or disputes about race or gender or race.
Well memories may become a little embellished. Stories from our past filter generally the best times and use the misfortunes as reference points that we want changed.
Hope is the basis of wanting an improved future. We take the parts of our stories and hope becomes the thread of wanting better if that situation ever comes around again. Hope is the strand that gives a sense of purpose for things to become different for our future, or a focus point for our goals, or even just enough courage to keep moving forward.
Hope is essential in our lives because it is the primary line that governs our actions to create new results. We are able to mould the reality that we choose to live within, by having the smallest sliver of hope. We have potential to grow and develop healthy mindsets, habits and thought patterns just by simply being hopeful.
As the world changes and causes anxiety because of how different it was to what we remember, we can have trust in knowing that just as the weather changes and the rain comes and goes, the slightest plant can grow in the most extreme or odd environments and given time it will flourish. That there is a concept of hope, and with that I hope the coming months are bright and productive for all of us as we move onward.