🙏🏽 💪🏻 5 Tips to Find Hope in Difficult Times 🙌🏿. 👍🏾

We should never lose hope. The fact that you have a single breath in your body, and you are alive at this moment is hope. Wanting an outcome that makes your life better in some way is hope.  Envisioning a better future motivates us to take the steps to make it happen – this is hope. It's so easy right now in the current pandemic when all we see and hear are sad stories there is a sense of darkness, negative media coverage or maybe you have a series of bad days or a series of bad weeks or your lucky break isn’t coming or you don’t sense that progress. Look that’s part of life there’s going to be so many struggles and disappointments, challenges, setbacks, dark days and part of sustaining and making through all that is maintaining hope.

Look around you at the emptier streets, those wearing masks, taking huge precautions, those who are risking their lives on the front line in many sectors showing care, love and courage – yes times are difficult but if you lift your head you will see the most remarkable acts of global solidarity we may ever see in our lifetime. Inspirational speaker Tony Benn once said “Hope is the fuel of progress and fear is the prison in which you put yourself”.

Hope isn’t some airy-fairy concept – it’s a psychological need to believe we can endure, we can succeed and thrive, so we can make our difference... so have hope...

But here’s the thing we don’t just “have hope” or “lose hope” even though we say those phrases all the time. Hope isn’t something we just wake up to having automatically. Years ago, Brendon Burchard my High Performance coach came into my life and he used a metaphor that completely changed my attitude, actions and whole philosophy on life and frankly how I feel during the day and lifted me to a whole other level.

He said "a Power Plant doesn’t just have energy it transforms and generates energy..."

At the same level we don’t just have hope .. we transform the energy around us and we generate hope, just like when your phone is dying. You plug it in and charge it up the same thing with our hope and other emotions our happiness, aliveness. When our hope is dying we want to transform the energy around us and generate more hope... get plugged back into your hopes your dreams to get charged back up again...

By making a choice to hope, you put yourself in control of how you react to your circumstances and how you’ll handle what comes next. Although it’s not so easy when going through bad things to maintain a hopeful disposition, always know that you can draw upon hope to see things in a new way.

So here are 5 tips to generate more Hope..

1: Get Perspective and Focus on What You Can Change

In 12-step programs, the Serenity Prayer is often recited to remind us that some things are outside our control. “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Whether you are religious or not, recognizing that many things are outside our control can bring a sense of peace. When we recognize what we cannot control, we also recognize what we can. We largely have control over what we eat, whether or not we choose to exercise or meditate. We have control over doing something productive during the day and taking time to rest. If we find that we have problems in these areas, we can seek help. By focusing on what we can change, we can be uplifted by acts of self-care.

2: Have a vision and a plan for your life

Focus on what you can look forward to. Learn some new things, read better books, direct your focus to support your growth to have the ability to achieve your plan. Sit down with a paper and pen and plan.... spill out hope onto your page what is you want to give, contribute, create, give to the world... what are your reasons to be grateful for, things you want to make happen and put a plan towards that...and as you start putting yourself out there – don’t give up just because it’s challenging ... your dreams are worth it – you know there will be dark days but start taking the next first step. Do Something You Love. Participating in activities that bring us joy is one of the most important ways we can develop a sense of hope in trying times. Take up a new hobby. Doing some DIY for you and others, Painting, Gardening, Knitting, sewing masks for people in need. Cooking. Playing music. Whatever it is that makes you smile, do whatever you can to be sure you do it as often as possible. This is not an escape, but an understanding that there are activities that bring us genuine joy. In difficult times; having these outlets gives us strength and resilience to weather the tougher parts of the day and can help us generate hope. Stay persistent to keep at it no matter what.. Keep working towards your plan. Whether it be a lesson to learn or a life experience to grow from can be empowering and instill hope.Having the ability to take away something positive from tough times offers a way to have closure and move forward in life.  Whether it be a lesson to learn or a life experience to grow from can be empowering and instill hope.

3: Find a silver lining and Cultivate optimism

Do you see the “glass half full” instead of “half empty”? Do you make lemonade out of the lemons life throws you? Then you’re an optimistic person. If you are, you’ll enjoy a higher quality of life and better physical and mental health according to scientific research. However, if you tend to be more pessimistic, especially during hard times, then try to focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses, maximize your successes and minimize your failures, challenge your self-sabotaging thought patterns by creating new ones that empower you, and look at all the possibilities in your life, not the limitations. Having the ability to take away something positive from tough times offers a way to have closure and move forward in life.

4: Remember what you are thankful for.

No matter how hard things get there is always something to be grateful for. ... Gratitude is a feeling of appreciation for that which is good in our lives. In times like these, our gratitude might be for small things, like the warmth of the sun through the window in the morning or a beloved pet sitting at our feet. Purposefully recognizing what we have to be grateful for can uplift us when the urge to use comes over us, or life seems increasingly bleak and we begin to entertain negative thoughts with more frequency. Cultivating gratitude can offset those ideas, providing meaning and instilling hope. So, for example - at the end of each day, think of three things you’re thankful for. Write them down in a gratitude journal, share with your kids or loved ones... Pause for a moment at various points in the day to focus on something you’re grateful for. For example, you might smile at someone you love, enjoy the playful antics of a puppy, or appreciate nature, actually hear the songs of birds, the beauty of a sunset, or the fragrance of the flowers in your garden..

5: Reach out and show compassion.

Leverage technology reach out and Connect with hopeful people. Surround yourself with family and friends albeit virtually. Be with people who make you feel good and limit your "Bad News" intake. While we all miss the human touch in this pandemic we can still give and express virtual hugs, smiles, give emotional support, and this energy can help renew hope. Often when people struggle they isolate themselves which only increases the feelings of loneliness, fear, and hopelessness. Instead, open yourself up and invite people in to support you.

Talk to someone who has been through something similar or read about someone who has. Watch and share hope motivational videos (there’s loads of them on you tube). There is such power in feeling connected with others through shared experiences. Talking about a situation can offer a healing experience. Receiving advice or just hearing that it turned out well can recharge your inner hope. If it’s not possible to be with them in person, call, text, or have a video chat. Sit in the garden at a good distance from one another. Connection is of critical importance to everyone. Make an effort to reach out, even when it’s difficult, and let the people you care about know it.

 Whether we think about it or not, hope is a part of everyone’s life. Everyone hopes for something. It’s an inherent part of being a human being. Hope helps us define what we want in our futures and is part of the self-talk about our lives we all have running inside our minds. Be patient with yourself, take these 5 tips to inspire a new sense of hope within. If you notice someone who seems like they have lost hope, reach out and offer support. Hope is often the spark of action and real positive change so there are no limits on where hope can lead you! Having hope is important to the very act of being a human being. As Dr. Judith Rich writes, “Hope is a match in a dark tunnel, a moment of light, just enough to reveal the path ahead and ultimately the way out.”

1: Get Perspective

2: Have A Vision & A Plan For Your Life

3: Find A Silver Lining & Cultivate Optimism

4: Remember What You Are Thankful For

5: Reach Out & Show Compassion

I have left below a link to a great tune called "I Hope" by The Chicks... Which is a catchy number about hoping...

(I hope) For more love, more joy and laughter (I hope) We'll have more than we'll ever need (I hope) We'll have more happy ever afters (I hope) We can all live more fearlessly And we can lose all the pain and misery (I hope, I hope)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxrK21amC9Q

So that’s it for this week episode – thank you for joining me. Try the strategies, and your ability to build hope, gain perspective and feel better everyday will improve. If you found this helpful please share it with others and like us / comment on our facebook, instagram, Linkedin pages...

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