Well I have waited long enough.
I was hoping that by not responding to the query two blogs ago, that others might put forth their ideas. Since that has not happened YET, I will tell you that, "Yes, I believe hope is a perspective that helps us see or find opportunities." Having said that, I also believe that at times it is difficult to maintain a hopeful perspective, which is why we need to surround ourselves with 'hope coaches'. It is also why I believe we need to find ways to uncover and access our hoping selves and the hoping selves of others. It is why I was so determined to publish a resource that contained ways to access our hoping selves.
I think Dufault and Martocchio (1985) would agree. They did a study with 35 elderly cancer patients and found there are two spheres and six dimensions of hope. I believe the spheres contribute to what I mean when I say when we look through a hopeful lens our thinking, actions, feelings, and relationships helps us envision and move toward a future in which we can participate with enthusiasm and interest.
The two spheres of hope are particularized and generalized. Particular hopes focus on specifics, often in the moment. Particular hopes might be: I hope I don't freeze on the way into work today; I hope I can write another section for my paper before I have to leave my desk this morning; I hope no one bullies me today. Generalized hope, on the other hand, provides an overall sense of hope that things will turn out okay, a sense of well-being and security that one will cope with whatever comes along. It is a feeling or sense that one can develop and work toward particular hopes.
On the flip side, if we have experienced many hope suckers in our past or do not feel very hopeful, our generalized hope would look, feel and sound quite different. Let's use the particular example of the particular hope "I hope I am not bullied today." This might be the statement of someone who is using a 'less than' hopeful perspective or whose generalized feeling of his or her ability to be or not be bullied is not very hopeful. Feeling that one has strategies to cope with the bullies of the world helps me feel that when I meet one that things will turn out okay because I will be able to stand up to the bully or at least have supports in place so that I am not harmed by the bully's actions or that I can access the support I need it so that I do not continue to be harmed.
So now what do you think?
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
As you might know, I am curious about how hope influences our actions, thoughts, feelings and relationships. I am also curious about what others think, feel and believe about hope and hoping. So I quickly posted the comment from my last posting in the hopes that it would engage others. I also had to think about the query as I celebrated 'Family Day Weekend' with my family at the lake. However, as I feared, I am not technologically competent enough to know how to moderate comments on my blog. With that in mind, I decided I would do what I can do at the moment. I will respond in a new posting.
I can tell you that I often hear adults say that 'things look, feel, and sound different' after they spend time making hope visible and accessible in the various hope-focused workshops that I have participated in. Teachers tell me that their relationships with their students shift the day after they have completed an activity from Nurturing Hopeful Soulsresource. I plan to ask teachers how their relationships look, feel and sound different after they begin making hope visible and accessible in their interactions with students. In the meantime, I look forward to hearing what others think, feel and believe. I also look forward to learning how to moderate my blog.
I can tell you that I often hear adults say that 'things look, feel, and sound different' after they spend time making hope visible and accessible in the various hope-focused workshops that I have participated in. Teachers tell me that their relationships with their students shift the day after they have completed an activity from Nurturing Hopeful Soulsresource. I plan to ask teachers how their relationships look, feel and sound different after they begin making hope visible and accessible in their interactions with students. In the meantime, I look forward to hearing what others think, feel and believe. I also look forward to learning how to moderate my blog.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Intentionally Paying Attention
Children and youth repeatedly tell me that they turn to hopeful people when they feel the hope suckers settling in. The hope suckers that visited me this morning were voices from my past reminding me how I struggle with writing. Instead of letting my 'fearful self' take over my thinking, feeling, acting and thus my ability to connect with myself through writing, I intentionally turned to Wendy's blog at www.thehopelady.blogspot.com.
As I read Wendy's latest post, my ears let go of my shoulders, my lungs expanded, I picked up my pen and started to write what I needed to know.
Our mission at the Hope Foundation is to study how intentionally using hope enhances quality of life. I believe that seeking out or thinking about what a hopeful person would do is an intentional act that distinguishes hope from wishing. Hope researchers, Farran, Herth,and Popovich (1995) state that wishing is the precursor to hope. I agree. Wishing might be construed as an intentional act that enables one to envision and work toward a future that one can participate. In other words, I needed to do more than wish that the words would flow through my fingers. There are those of you who might say that I could have picked up my pen and started writing. However, past experience has taught me that that does not work for me so I did what does work. Paying attention to thoughts, feelings, actions, and relationships that enhance our hoping selves is one of five hope practices that are outlined in our most recent resource, Nurturing Hopeful Souls: Practices and Activities for Working with Children and Youth available at www.ualberta.ca/hope.
As I read Wendy's latest post, my ears let go of my shoulders, my lungs expanded, I picked up my pen and started to write what I needed to know.
Our mission at the Hope Foundation is to study how intentionally using hope enhances quality of life. I believe that seeking out or thinking about what a hopeful person would do is an intentional act that distinguishes hope from wishing. Hope researchers, Farran, Herth,and Popovich (1995) state that wishing is the precursor to hope. I agree. Wishing might be construed as an intentional act that enables one to envision and work toward a future that one can participate. In other words, I needed to do more than wish that the words would flow through my fingers. There are those of you who might say that I could have picked up my pen and started writing. However, past experience has taught me that that does not work for me so I did what does work. Paying attention to thoughts, feelings, actions, and relationships that enhance our hoping selves is one of five hope practices that are outlined in our most recent resource, Nurturing Hopeful Souls: Practices and Activities for Working with Children and Youth available at www.ualberta.ca/hope.
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