On the weekend my husband and I watched the movie 'Bordertown'. It is about women and families who are forced to work in the factories that make televisions and computers for North America since NAFTA in Ciudad, Juarez, Mexico. But it is more than a movie about women and their families who have been forced off their land with no options beyond working in the factories. Over 300 of the women have been murdered and many many more are missing with little recourse.
I know more about the women of Juarez this morning after watching the movie because it made me feel both hopeless and hopeful. As we watched the movie and then the special commentary about the making of the movie and the results of making the movie, I felt, on some level, like there was nothing I could do to make a difference.
However, that overwhelming feeling did not persist. I decided to take a hopeful stance. After watching the movie itself, we purposefully tuned into the information provided by the producers to see how we could 1)find out more; 2) learn how we might be able to make a stand beyond as individuals. I found myself asking myself the hope-focused question, "What are the smallest things that I can do?"
Hence this posting. I feel I can go forward knowing that I have begun to "do something" to affect a change. I am aware of violence against women, but until this morning, I had not ever opened the Amnesty International website - a website that I will spend more time on - not only to inform myself, but to have conversations with others who, too are feeling overwhelmed about injustices around the world. Being informed helps me to take the appropriate action. I may not know what I need to do now, but I do know that I am moving in a direction that will help me to know what I need to do in the future, one step at a time.
Similarly, there are times when someone will comment on the futuility of the "small" things I do to affect environmental changes. However, if I don't make these small changes in my life, I feel hopeless about the fate of our planet and for the children who will be left to try to survive. For example, I use public transit whenever possible after working with grade five students last year. I was pleasantly surprised to see that our Federal Government, too, is doing their part. Canadians can now use their bus fares to offset their income tax. A small measure? I think not. This change is a huge change in mindset. I imagine that Canadians will consider, if not begin to use public transit when they see another advantage for doing so.
I believe that it is the small things that we do to make a difference that encourage us to take the next steps whether individually or collectively. We may not be able to stop all the injustices, but we are moving in the right direction when we ask ourselves, "What is the smallest thing I can do?" to move toward a desirable future for all.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Hopeful Books?
I am often asked to provide a list of "hopeful" books for children and youth. I have started a list (with the help of a lot of other people). But the list is really books that fit within particular categories. For example, we have books on imagination, perseverence, creativity, and stories of individuals who have overcome insurmountable odds in their lives by using hope. The reason for the categories is simple. All books, in my opinion are about hope. Even the books that are for all intents and purposes about topics that we might consider less hopeful. I believe that books help us to understand what we need to know about our own lives and so I see books as having themes of hope and despair intertwined much like they are in our own lives.
The best example of what I mean by this is the book A Fine Balance. I do not have the book in front of me as I write this post, but I remember the line that caught my attention. It was the line that summed up the story really. One of the characters was asked why he kept on going when things really were quite hopeless. His answer. Hope and hopelessness sit side by side. The hopelessness informed his hope and the kinds of things he had to do to maintain hope for a better life for himself and those closest to him. Up until that time I had kept hope and hopelessness very separate. In fact, I did everything possible to keep any feelings of hopelessness at bay. When I look back now, I realize that I was not being hopeful, but what some would call Polyanaish. I was focusing on the positive. In so doing, I was running faster and faster on the 'treadmill of life' to ignore what was causing me to feel less hope. As a result my life was becoming less and less meaningful.
I was reading A Fine Balance about the same time that I was working on a photographic representation of my hope for my Master's Degree. When I took the time to acknowledge my feelings of hopelessness, I also became more aware of what I needed to live intentionally from a place of hope.
In my opinion books like A Fine Balance remind us that we need hope to deal with the despairing and painful times in our lives. Further, I believe it is how we interact and what we do with books that helps us and those with whom we interact to understand out hope more than reading books that just elevate our hope because they make us feel good.
For those of you who are curious about the themes, I will be posting my list of hopeful categories along with what others have suggested as discussion questions that can help us to connect with what we are reading through a hopeful lens.
The best example of what I mean by this is the book A Fine Balance. I do not have the book in front of me as I write this post, but I remember the line that caught my attention. It was the line that summed up the story really. One of the characters was asked why he kept on going when things really were quite hopeless. His answer. Hope and hopelessness sit side by side. The hopelessness informed his hope and the kinds of things he had to do to maintain hope for a better life for himself and those closest to him. Up until that time I had kept hope and hopelessness very separate. In fact, I did everything possible to keep any feelings of hopelessness at bay. When I look back now, I realize that I was not being hopeful, but what some would call Polyanaish. I was focusing on the positive. In so doing, I was running faster and faster on the 'treadmill of life' to ignore what was causing me to feel less hope. As a result my life was becoming less and less meaningful.
I was reading A Fine Balance about the same time that I was working on a photographic representation of my hope for my Master's Degree. When I took the time to acknowledge my feelings of hopelessness, I also became more aware of what I needed to live intentionally from a place of hope.
In my opinion books like A Fine Balance remind us that we need hope to deal with the despairing and painful times in our lives. Further, I believe it is how we interact and what we do with books that helps us and those with whom we interact to understand out hope more than reading books that just elevate our hope because they make us feel good.
For those of you who are curious about the themes, I will be posting my list of hopeful categories along with what others have suggested as discussion questions that can help us to connect with what we are reading through a hopeful lens.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Learned Hopefulness & Happiness
The headline in the Edmonton Journal (Friday, March 21, 2008) read "Surprise! Money can buy happiness" caught my attention. It caught my attention because I am all too aware of previous studies on happiness that stress once a person's basic needs are met, more money does not make one happier. Apparently, as Elizabth Dunn, a University of British Columbia psychologist found, giving does increases our happiness.
This research is not surprising when we look at how volunteering or helping another increases our hope or what Zimmerman (1990) named learned hopefulness. I see this happening with Hope Kids in our HOPE KIDS programs and especially in our Hope-Focused Service-Learning program.
In the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program children and youth develop skills, knowledge and attitudes that help them envision and work toward a future in which they can participate. I have seen youth who for all intents and purposes demonstrate what we understand as learned helplessness at the beginning of our work. These youth do not see themselves as contributing to their own well-being. They most certainly do not see themselves contributing to the well-being of others. They often blame others for their failures. When these youth explore, their hidden hopes and discover new hopes and ways of achieving those hopes under the guidance of a caring teacher who listens well and encourages them to use their hope to develop new skills, a new sense of what they are capable of and want to work toward becomes possible not only in their eyes, but in the eyes of other adults and peers with whom they interact.
Aknin a student research collaborator in the study states that, "Making the right decision with money seems to promote self-esteem." I wonder what future happiness studies will report when participants in the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program use hope to determine where and how to use their talents and money to make the world a more hopeful place.
This research is not surprising when we look at how volunteering or helping another increases our hope or what Zimmerman (1990) named learned hopefulness. I see this happening with Hope Kids in our HOPE KIDS programs and especially in our Hope-Focused Service-Learning program.
In the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program children and youth develop skills, knowledge and attitudes that help them envision and work toward a future in which they can participate. I have seen youth who for all intents and purposes demonstrate what we understand as learned helplessness at the beginning of our work. These youth do not see themselves as contributing to their own well-being. They most certainly do not see themselves contributing to the well-being of others. They often blame others for their failures. When these youth explore, their hidden hopes and discover new hopes and ways of achieving those hopes under the guidance of a caring teacher who listens well and encourages them to use their hope to develop new skills, a new sense of what they are capable of and want to work toward becomes possible not only in their eyes, but in the eyes of other adults and peers with whom they interact.
Aknin a student research collaborator in the study states that, "Making the right decision with money seems to promote self-esteem." I wonder what future happiness studies will report when participants in the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program use hope to determine where and how to use their talents and money to make the world a more hopeful place.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Art Used to Show What Hope Means
This article appeared in the Edmonton Sun. I thought it was appropriate to add because it demonstrates the work we do at the Hope Foundation. Josie's hope model (Tuesday, March 18 posting) was presented at the AGM that this article refers to. I don't think I have to say much more ~ except to let you know that if you click on the article it will enlarge so that you can read it!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Building Hopes, Building Futures
I often tell people I have the BEST job in the world because I get to interact with children and youth on a regular basis. I am often amazed at the depth of thinking that I hear when I take the time to listen to what children and youth have to say on the topic of hope. Here's just one example.
Sitting around the table with five junior high students who are embarking on the second phase of the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program where we begin to determine where in our community we need to bring hope to others, our conversation turned to what we know about hope to help us proceed. This is what they said to summarize what they learned thus far in phase one of exploring hope and service:
- Hope can help people come out of anything.
- We know what brings hope into others' lives because we share our hopes with each other.
- There are people who don't have a lot of hope.
- Hope is easy to get and give.
- Whether or not you have hope depends on the kind of person you are and where you live. For example, you might be a child in Africa and you may not have hope until someone notices you.
- If you give hope, you get hope back.
- If you give respect, you get respect back.
- To have hope we need to trust each other to share.
I don't know about you, but I find these statements pretty insightful. In a previous post I talk about the power of being open to what we are noticing about hope in our daily interactions and activities with each other. The above list is the first list we have made since beginning our work together some five months ago(one hour a week).
The next step as I see it, is for us to search for examples to demonstrate these understandings so as to build new understandings - individually, as a group, and in the work we do with others in the community. In so doing, we will begin to tell the individual and group stories of what it means to use hope as a guide in our daily interactions with each other.
Sitting around the table with five junior high students who are embarking on the second phase of the Hope-Focused Service-Learning program where we begin to determine where in our community we need to bring hope to others, our conversation turned to what we know about hope to help us proceed. This is what they said to summarize what they learned thus far in phase one of exploring hope and service:
- Hope can help people come out of anything.
- We know what brings hope into others' lives because we share our hopes with each other.
- There are people who don't have a lot of hope.
- Hope is easy to get and give.
- Whether or not you have hope depends on the kind of person you are and where you live. For example, you might be a child in Africa and you may not have hope until someone notices you.
- If you give hope, you get hope back.
- If you give respect, you get respect back.
- To have hope we need to trust each other to share.
I don't know about you, but I find these statements pretty insightful. In a previous post I talk about the power of being open to what we are noticing about hope in our daily interactions and activities with each other. The above list is the first list we have made since beginning our work together some five months ago(one hour a week).
The next step as I see it, is for us to search for examples to demonstrate these understandings so as to build new understandings - individually, as a group, and in the work we do with others in the community. In so doing, we will begin to tell the individual and group stories of what it means to use hope as a guide in our daily interactions with each other.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Expectant Waiting
Walking back from the 'Hope and Helping Relationship' class at the University of Alberta where Kevin Jones presented on how he applies hope in his work as a teacher and principal, I found myself wondering what I would write about on today's blog. As a new blogger I am quite amazed at how much I look forward to writing every weekday morning. Yet, I never know what I am going to write until I sit down at the computer. I don't know if I trick myself into thinking I don't know, but I find myself being drawn to the computer to find out what I have to say.
It is a little like hope and the work we do at the Hope Foundation. We hope for the things that we are not certain. We are optimistic for the things that we know will come about. As a result, hope can be hard work. Sometimes our hopes do not happen, but the process of hoping can also bring about that which we were not expecting. In an earlier blog I quoted Valclav Havel who spoke about hope not having to have things turn out, but being okay with how they turn out. It is hope that enables us to deal with the pain and difficulties of life.
Because we hope for the things we are not certain, it is difficult to write and stick to outcomes for our programs at the Hope Foundation. However, we are getting better at making predictions about what might happen because we have collected more evidence about what does happen when we are intentional about using hope in different settings.
One of the things that we have gotten much better at doing is waiting patiently for the right time for things to happen. It seems that when we try to hard to work toward a particular outcome either something else happens or nothing happens at all.
Marcel, a Catholic theologian called what we often do - 'expectant waiting'. We have known for a very long time about the benefits of making hope visible and accessible. While waiting for the rest of the world to catch on, we work with those who are at first drawn to hope like we were at first. I cannot count how many times I have heard workshop participants say, "Things have shifted. I see the world and how I participate in it differently now that I have discovered the power of hope in my life." After a year of studying hope, a grade five student put it this way. "I used to think hope was just nothing but a meaningless word, but now I think it is a feeling that drives you to succeed."
And so as I sit down to write I am open to what it is that I need to become more aware of. I am also curious about what will surface when I allow myself to create and be creative. I am pretty certain that I start the process much earier during the many conversations I have, on the solo walks I take and the moments where I make myself sit quietly trying to empty my mind of all I have to do. As I write this, I am realizing it is the same process I find myself engaged in each time I walk into a classroom to have a conversation about hope or embark on a new hope project with a new group of individuals.
It is a little like hope and the work we do at the Hope Foundation. We hope for the things that we are not certain. We are optimistic for the things that we know will come about. As a result, hope can be hard work. Sometimes our hopes do not happen, but the process of hoping can also bring about that which we were not expecting. In an earlier blog I quoted Valclav Havel who spoke about hope not having to have things turn out, but being okay with how they turn out. It is hope that enables us to deal with the pain and difficulties of life.
Because we hope for the things we are not certain, it is difficult to write and stick to outcomes for our programs at the Hope Foundation. However, we are getting better at making predictions about what might happen because we have collected more evidence about what does happen when we are intentional about using hope in different settings.
One of the things that we have gotten much better at doing is waiting patiently for the right time for things to happen. It seems that when we try to hard to work toward a particular outcome either something else happens or nothing happens at all.
Marcel, a Catholic theologian called what we often do - 'expectant waiting'. We have known for a very long time about the benefits of making hope visible and accessible. While waiting for the rest of the world to catch on, we work with those who are at first drawn to hope like we were at first. I cannot count how many times I have heard workshop participants say, "Things have shifted. I see the world and how I participate in it differently now that I have discovered the power of hope in my life." After a year of studying hope, a grade five student put it this way. "I used to think hope was just nothing but a meaningless word, but now I think it is a feeling that drives you to succeed."
And so as I sit down to write I am open to what it is that I need to become more aware of. I am also curious about what will surface when I allow myself to create and be creative. I am pretty certain that I start the process much earier during the many conversations I have, on the solo walks I take and the moments where I make myself sit quietly trying to empty my mind of all I have to do. As I write this, I am realizing it is the same process I find myself engaged in each time I walk into a classroom to have a conversation about hope or embark on a new hope project with a new group of individuals.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Josie's Hope Model
Last night eleven year old Josie presented her multi-dimensional hope model at our AGM. There are many things that I find amazing about Josie's model.
I will describe what it looks like so that you too can see how amazing it is. It is a four sided diamond shape. On each of the four points there are the words faith, dreams, courage, and knowledge. The inside of the diamond is a radiant blue. The word hope is on the inside with red and yellow sun rays radiating outward back to the four words. Each of the words also have an arrow pointing from the word back to hope in the center. On the outside of the diamond shape Josie wrote a note to Sandi Hiemer, the school counsellor, saying that is you Sandi!! Then on the outside of each word she wrote you have faith, you have courage, you have knowledge, you have dreams, most importantly you have hope.
Josie told us how faith, courage, dreams and knowledge make up her hope. She began her presentation with "I believe there are four things that help us to have hope. I have faith in my family and friends. I have faith in others. I have faith in my school. They teach me so much to get into university and college." Her description included present and future hopes and how they in essence feed off of each other. She then went on to do the same for knowledge, courage and dreams.
By now I probably don't have to say much about how amazing the model is. But even as I write this, I am struck by something that I did not think about since seeing it and having a discussion with Josie last Thursday and then hearing her presentation last night. So I will tell you why I think it is amazing, just in case I missed something else.
First of all it is a multi-dimensional model that represents her hope. If we were to impose another model or scale of hope to measure Josie's hope we might miss the most important components of her hope. Sometimes we get a call at the Hope Foundation asking us for a scale to measure children or youth hope. We do have a couple of measures at the Hope Foundation, but when I look at Josie's model, I am not sure they would encompass what is hopeful for her now and how she sees these four pillars as helping her to move toward a desired and meaningful future.
The arrows and rays in Josie's model illuminate how faith, courage, dreams, knowledge and then, in turn, her hope inform each other. The arrows from the words faith, courage, knowledge, and dreams point inward, the rays from hope radiate back out toward to influence her courage, faith, knowledge, and dreams.
Finally, I want to comment on the fact that she named Sandi as a significant adult in her world who influences her current understanding of hope, but also her hope for the future.
The arrows and rays along with naming Sandi as a significant adult demonstrate to me how hope and resilience overlap and inform each other, but also how hope motivates resilience.
I imagine that Josie has used and will continue to us this model without paying much attention to how it works to sustain her hope. I imagine also that hope may very well become a stronger guiding force in Josie's life now that she has made hope visible to both herself and the adults who interact with her.
I will describe what it looks like so that you too can see how amazing it is. It is a four sided diamond shape. On each of the four points there are the words faith, dreams, courage, and knowledge. The inside of the diamond is a radiant blue. The word hope is on the inside with red and yellow sun rays radiating outward back to the four words. Each of the words also have an arrow pointing from the word back to hope in the center. On the outside of the diamond shape Josie wrote a note to Sandi Hiemer, the school counsellor, saying that is you Sandi!! Then on the outside of each word she wrote you have faith, you have courage, you have knowledge, you have dreams, most importantly you have hope.
Josie told us how faith, courage, dreams and knowledge make up her hope. She began her presentation with "I believe there are four things that help us to have hope. I have faith in my family and friends. I have faith in others. I have faith in my school. They teach me so much to get into university and college." Her description included present and future hopes and how they in essence feed off of each other. She then went on to do the same for knowledge, courage and dreams.
By now I probably don't have to say much about how amazing the model is. But even as I write this, I am struck by something that I did not think about since seeing it and having a discussion with Josie last Thursday and then hearing her presentation last night. So I will tell you why I think it is amazing, just in case I missed something else.
First of all it is a multi-dimensional model that represents her hope. If we were to impose another model or scale of hope to measure Josie's hope we might miss the most important components of her hope. Sometimes we get a call at the Hope Foundation asking us for a scale to measure children or youth hope. We do have a couple of measures at the Hope Foundation, but when I look at Josie's model, I am not sure they would encompass what is hopeful for her now and how she sees these four pillars as helping her to move toward a desired and meaningful future.
The arrows and rays in Josie's model illuminate how faith, courage, dreams, knowledge and then, in turn, her hope inform each other. The arrows from the words faith, courage, knowledge, and dreams point inward, the rays from hope radiate back out toward to influence her courage, faith, knowledge, and dreams.
Finally, I want to comment on the fact that she named Sandi as a significant adult in her world who influences her current understanding of hope, but also her hope for the future.
The arrows and rays along with naming Sandi as a significant adult demonstrate to me how hope and resilience overlap and inform each other, but also how hope motivates resilience.
I imagine that Josie has used and will continue to us this model without paying much attention to how it works to sustain her hope. I imagine also that hope may very well become a stronger guiding force in Josie's life now that she has made hope visible to both herself and the adults who interact with her.
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