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.
1 comment:
I wonder if Hope is a perception that can see opportunity?
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