Hope. A feeling of expectation and wanting for a certain thing to happen. This is what the dictionary states hope to be.
I think it is safe to say in our world today, most of us hope and want a world much greater than the one we see. I can say for myself I hope for a world more full of love, truth, people with hearts to serve others and a generation behind me that appreciates life and others.
Hope is hard sometimes when we are bombarded by so much negativity in our world. I mainly keep it light and happy here at Simple Acres because I want this blog to be a place of refuge for life’s stresses and challenges….but can I open my heart up to you a little?
Can we talk about the yearning to be more hopeful? Let us ponder how we can spread hope in life by growing in hope ourselves.
This world needs hope more than ever.
Have you ever felt hopeless? Possibly you have had an experience in your life where you felt out of control of life’s circumstances? Loss of loved ones, illness, job loss, infertility, negative world affairs, goals not met…the list can go on and on regarding the types of events that can cause one to lose hope. For me I can say I have had my fair share of hope challenged days and times in my life. My loss of hope is often triggered by hardships out of my control.
Do you see that faint rainbow in the picture above? Â Sometimes that’s how faint hope feels and when it fades there goes our joy. That faint rainbow has been me lately, I hate to admit, simply overwhelmed with bad news. At times it seems daily we are consumed by another story, another loss, another threat that steals what hope we have. Hope for the future and humanity has been challenged around the world not only now but through the history of mankind…really.
I have been pondering for days how to separate myself from the negativity of the environment the world offers at times. Do I run away, stay to myself, avoid social media (hard to do in my profession)?
Then I realized something simple and obvious but it helped me. Hardships and trials WILL come…BUT hope is what offers ENDURANCE in the moment. Hope in hard times is often our saving grace.
Growing in hope is something I am determined to do as a resilient often intense and passionate woman. Hope is our tool to heal our own hearts. See, I believe hope deferred makes the heart sick. Friends, we need to hope to persevere, overcome and grow as humans and humanity.
If we put action toward the very thing we hope for IT BECOMES REAL!Â
Expectation and wanting something better is not complete without the ACTION that drives that HOPE! As I write this I am realizing, I have power in my hope. It is one thing I do have control of. When I put into action the thing I CAN DO to make this life, this world, that persons heart better I get to make a positive difference. I hope.
Love is the action.
For now my hope is that actions unified in love can make a positive impact in our world.
I have felt numb by the commentary of today’s world regarding all sorts of negative events lately. It seems people want to busy themselves with arguments. I am not writing this innocent of falling pray to this behavior but I am feeling called to something better.
I want to focus on the uplifting power of a hope driven by love in action.
I am feeling called to action and encouraging others to put forth actions that promote the love, peace and kindness we all want to live in. To be honest I am so DAMN (that’s the nicest word I could pick) DONE with the lack of these good things most of us hope for.
For me motherhood creates a fight in me. I want this world to be worth living in for my children! I yearn to do something instead of just “want” or just “have a sense of expectation” for better. So, if you have been feeling dismayed in life or a  feeling of fading hope I want to encourage you that you are not alone in your challenges, fears and yearning to put hope in action.
Let us be the “doers” the “peace makers” the “kindness spreaders” let us be HOPE personified in LOVE.
10 Simple Ways to Grow in Hope in your Daily Life :
1. Trust in something bigger and better than yourself. Reflect, pray, breath deep. Do what connects you to something or someone greater.
2. Believe good always wins out in the end. Believe that the smile, the positive post you share, the encouraging word you say and the much needed hug makes a difference. Kindness causes ripples in humanity that make a difference.
3. Avoid extreme thinking; most things work out positively in the end (thanks Dad). This “law of reality” my Dad has taught me helps me. It takes patience, perspective and often #1.
4. Speak positive truth into your own life and others. Words breath life into the bones of a person or they tear ones heart to pieces. Peace and love in this world starts with our words…and those include what we speak behind backs and behind our computers in text.
5. BELIEVE the positive and choose to trust in the hope you have in your heart. If you want more kindness in this world be kind. If you want less prejudice be accepting and fair…more love…be love in action.
6. Put hope in action; see here for kind acts.
7. Keep a hope journal; jot down thoughts and prayers and review as they come true.
8. Never give up.
9. Be as fearless as possible. A life full of fear isn’t living to your full potential.
10. Trust in something bigger and better than yourself. (Yes, I repeated myself.)
Friends, I don’t have all the answers nor do I have it all figured out. This post, if at its least, was written to remind myself to step it up in this short visit on Earth. Will you join me to grow in hope?
I myself am going to start focusing on these one at a time. My hope is that in my honesty, this may resonate with even just one other in hopes for positive and loving change. Dovidenia. XO
