We have all had moments when we have hoped for something good for ourselves or someone else, sometimes a trivial thing, but at other times something serious. Hope is a quiet strength that keeps us moving forward, even when the path seems uncertain. It carries us through difficult times and gives us the courage to dream of a better future. It is not foolish optimism – that a better future is inevitable. Instead, hope is a motivation, a drive, to persevere towards something even if we’re sceptical that a positive outcome is likely. Losing hope, on the other hand, is destructive and can mean losing all motivation.
So have you ever wondered just where hope comes from? This is the question that was posed at May’s Geneva Cafe.
The first thing everyone was asked to do was to close their eyes and put their hand where they thought hope came from – was it from their heart, from their head, or from above their heads i.e. something ‘holy’, an exercise Debbie the host had seen online. When everyone opened their eyes they could see that not everyone thought the same and had chosen different places to put their hand. This stimulated the first conversation between them at their tables of four. Why had they chosen that source of hope? And did they feel that hope was a feeling, a mindset or a choice?
After a while Debbie shared some of the theories concerning hope. One theory notably put forward by American psychologist Charles Snyder is that hope is about thinking, it’s a cognitive skill requiring what he termed agency thinking (planning a way ahead) and pathway thinking (a belief your goal can be achieved). Other academics say that hope is instead a powerful emotion, that keep us striving towards our survival and desires. Others conclude that hope is a mix, an intricate blend of our thinking skills and emotions.
At the Geneva cafe people change places and join a different group of four for each discussion. So, after a changeover the next prompt was on what they saw were the internal and external sources of hope for us and to attempt to list them.
After a lively dialogue we saw that there had been a lot of agreement with the information that Debbie then shared on ‘The 5 Sources of Hope’ from ‘The Hope Pentagram’ (Obayuwana, Collins, Carter). These are :
1. Your intrinsic assets : i.e yourself, your ego strength, your virtuous attributes, signature strengths, self-discipline, and self-esteem.
2. Your human family assets : Family, friends, colleagues, and others from whom you get support, love, empathy, and understanding.
3. Your economic assets : your sense of material sufficiency, perceived resource adequacy, and good stewardship.
4. Your educational assets : your intellect, experience, skills, curiosity, knowledge, and awareness.
5. Your spiritual assets : your ethos, prayerfulness, religious faith, and convictions.
We found that we could add to this list of sources of hope. For example, non-religious experiences that help us get in touch with our ‘spiritual selves’ through quiet reflection, time in nature, music, meditation, art, poetry etc. And what about stories of overcoming & role models who inspire us? Finding joy in small moments? Practicing gratitude? Visualisation? Mantras? Giving as well as receiving kindness? Celebrating small steps? Journals? Creativity? Books? There are so many sources of hope if we think and look for them.
Lastly there was a time for people to share what they wished to of their own experiences, stories and wisdom, where and when they have found hope, and which of the sources we discussed had been helpful.
In closing Debbie hoped that the evening had been thought-provoking and helpful and quoted the famous line by the poet Emily Dickenson : “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.”
Where do you find hope when you need it?
Debbie King
ConsciousCafe Geneva
ConsciousCafe is a not-for-profit organisation, a friendly and welcoming community, a place to live life consciously.