Rick Snyder, one of
the leading specialists in hope represent
it as an ability to conceptualize goals, find pathways to these goals despite
obstacles and have the motivation to use those pathways. To put it more simply,
we feel hope if we: a) know what we want, b) can think of a range of ways to
get there and c) start and keep ongoing.
A powerful motivator: According to an
article, Happiness, Hope, and Optimism, C.R. Snyder, a
University of Kansas psychologist posed the following hypothetical situation
to college students: "Although you set your goal of getting a B in a
class, after your first exam, which accounts for 30% of your grade, you find
you only scored a D. It is now one week later. What do you do?" Snyder
found that hope made all the difference. Students with high levels of hope said
they would work harder and thought of a wider range of things they could do to
improve their final grade. Students with moderate levels of hope thought of
several ways to improve their grades but had far less determination to pursue
them. Students with low levels of hope gave up attempting to improve their
grades, completely demoralized (Goleman, 1995).
Reduce stress: According to another article, Positive thinking:
Stop negative self-talk, having a positive outlook enables you to cope better with
stressful situations, which reduces the harmful health effects of stress on
your body. It's also thought that positive and optimistic people tend to live
healthier lifestyles — they get more physical activity, follow a healthier diet,
and don't smoke or drink alcohol in excess.
More resilient: Hopeful people may
face setbacks and obstacles; they will not give up easily but are more determined
to face challenges ahead. In an article, Hope
and Survival: The Power of Psychological Resilience, Carol Farran, an eldercare expert from Rush University Medical Center
in Chicago, sought to understand why some nursing home residents thrived,
despite adversity and isolation, while others just withered away. The
difference between the two groups, she found, was hope. By
"hope" she did not mean the blind or rigid optimism that usually
passes for hope. Rather, for Farran, hope meant an openness to the possibility
(optimism), acceptance of risk, and a determination to work things out. Hopeful
people, she wrote, face reality in a clear-eyed fashion, doing the best they
can. "The hopeful person looks at reality and then arrives at solutions.
If a hoped-for outcome became impossible, the hopeful person would find
something else to hope for."
Life is worth living: Life is
meaningful. Hopeful people have an optimistic expectation for the future. They
carry on living despite facing difficult circumstances. They are hopeful that
things will get better one fine day. Hopefulness promotes cheerfulness and
seeing light at the end of the tunnel.
Hope is happiness: Happy people diligently do what they need to do every day and hope for the best. Life, after
all, is a journey. It ends only when your life ends. According to Robert Louis Stevenson, it is better to travel hopefully than to arrive and the true success is to
labor.
Conclusion
Hopefulness is pressed but not crushed. Do
not give up hope.