For so many of us the times we are living in feel very challenging indeed – with no certainty or clear end in sight. So much has changed, and will continue to change. Our lives are not going as we had planned them, nor are they are not going as we knew them either. There have been many losses, from the loss of jobs, security, health and seeming certainty to the loss of loved ones, health, income, homes and the plans we had made or intended to make.
Yet there is always hope … hope is that beautiful thing that understands that there will be deep pitfalls along the way and even so it is able to hold onto the belief in and potential for better and more positive outcome. Hope doesn’t depend on certainty … it is merely the belief that there is potential for something good to happen. The dictionary tells us that hope is either a noun, or a verb … and therein lies the secret. I believe we should work to make hope a verb. A “doing” word. We should train ourselves daily, holding onto hope even in the face of extreme adversity, so that we can continue to believe in the possibility of a better future. Why? Because even in pain and suffering there is magic around us all of the time … the mere fact that within our vast universe we humans landed up here, on this blue living planet, at this time, today, is magical in itself.
In his book “The Anatomy of Hope” Jerome Groopman tells us that hope has the ability alter the brains neuro-chemistry blocking pain by releasing endorphins and enkephalins thereby mimicking the effects of morphine. How hectic is that? Simply being able to hold onto hope can alter the course of our lives and how we experience things … give it a try…