What is hope? When you believe it is lost how do you find it again? How can you give hope to others? Do you?

Source: giphy.com

Hope

Hope is a very important thing. Without it our mind can spiral and sometimes lead to us choosing to withdraw from things, whether it be participation in events, or whether it becomes the extreme of opting out of life itself. If hope is such an important thing does it not seem like a good idea to wonder how hope works, and how to cultivate it better not only in ourselves, but also to plant seeds of hope in others. The crop of hope could easily be one of the most important crops that you ever plant and tend to.

Dictionary non-personal definition of hope:

As with any dictionary definition it is purely approached from a factual or perhaps clinical manner. Those things are indeed aspects of hope. They do not quite encompass the vastness of what hope is to me. Perhaps this is a case where I have hijacked the word in my own mind and repurposed it unlike the previous words I have written about in some of my blogs about hijacked words.

Here is a collage of image I made to represent hope to me:

Source: my image built with a collage of multiple images from multiple sources

To me hope is plain as day in many common phrases people say:

• There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
• If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
• There is always tomorrow.
• Tomorrow is another day.
• This too shall pass.
• Would you like to buy a lottery ticket?

Hope is a driving force. Why would a person persevere and struggle if there were no hope of success?

Fight or Flight

Source: www.verbal-aikido.com

Nature itself is inspired by hope even in such a simple thing as the Fight or Flight reflex.

Flight is us running away with the hope we can ESCAPE and "live to fight another day."

Fight is us hoping we can defeat our opposition or perhaps hoping we can give someone else we care about more than ourselves a chance to flee.

Can we cultivate hope?

Source: giphy.com - yes, I realize what sort of plant this is

Is it possible to cultivate hope? Can we find hope in even the darkest of situations?
I personally believe it is. I would be pleased if that is a belief that you hold as well.

If you think back to the darkest of periods in your life. Consider this. You are still here. There was hope. You came out of the other side. If however, you are in a dark period now remember other dark periods, especially the ones that you made it past. There should always be hope.

Sometimes the problem is like this...

Source: wikipedia.com

And other times it may look like this...

Source: wikimedia.com

The common thing to remember about both of those is that there is a solution. There is a way out. There is a solution to the problem.

Finding the way to hope

These are my words, and my beliefs. I have some hope that they will possibly be meaningful to some of you.

It is important to realize that you cannot use the same approach to solve every problem. You must twist and turn your mind and try to find different angles, different perspectives, from which to view the problem. Perspectives can greatly alter the truth or false nature of many things. Perspective can make a problem seem without a solution, and yet a simple solution might exist with a shift of perspective.

Here is a simple way to put it that most of you likely are familiar with:

Not every problem is this:

Source: www.usifaz.com

Your only solution is not this:

Source: wikimedia.org

How can we inspire hope in others?

My answer to this is with effort. You must try. You must do more than think about it. You may fail. Yet part of having hope is also learning from mistakes.

Here is something I try to tell people, and it does not really CLICK with everyone, but for some it does.

Life is an adventure... Parts of it are dangerous...

SourcE: www.dialbforblog.com

Making it past that danger and surviving is a rush, a thrill, relief, or perhaps all of these things...

Source: www.nerdlikeyou.com

Challenges come to us and are obstacles...

Source: spielbergfanclub.com

We apply ourselves to find a way past the obstacle...

Source: www.dvdizzy.com

Upon success we are elated and happy...

Source: www.dialbforblog.com

What would your life truly be like without obstacles?

Source: giphy.com

What would motivate you if there was nothing challenging you?

Source: giphy.com

Is an obstacle or challenge truly a bad thing, or is it perhaps an opportunity to once again feel elated, happy, excited, and thrilled when you overcome that obstacle or challenge?

Source: fanart.tv

Why do people ride amusement park rides?

Source: giphy.com

Why do people climb mountains?

Source: ngm.nationalgeographic.com

Why do people sky dive?

Source: giphy.com

Why do people white water raft?

Source: giphy.com

Can you not see that obstacles are not bad, and perhaps they are instead a reason for hope?

Source: giphy.com - not posted to objectify women... the effect in this image is cool

If you want some examples presented that show how perspectives can truly alter some things I did find an old writing of mine that I wrote so I could go to sleep several years ago. I shared it here on steemit not long ago. I referred to it as Absolutes not being Absolute.