This week's topic is about hope. That's it. Just hope.
The idea stems from an article I read that hope is something that is good for you, that people who don't have hope in their lives generally are less productive and have less fulfilling relationships with others. I thought is was interesting that hope was tied to productivity.
Before we get to deep into the topic, hope is not the same as happiness or optimism. It is about feeling that life is worth living and being happy to be alive. Happiness and optimism live within hope, and hope can live without them. Hope comes from within, it is really how you feel about things. So, truly hopeful people aren't faking it. I saw a great quote about hope, it basically said that hope is internal, and you know if you don't have hope. You can't lie to yourself about it.
A part of hope is working towards a goal, there is more to it than just goal setting and achievement. Hope is about belief that the goal is possible and that you deserve to attain it. So many of us think, I would like X, Y or Z, but we don't believe that we can achieve it or that even if we can we don't deserve it.
You can create more hope in your life. No matter how hopeless it seems! Some ideas:
1. Surround yourself with people who are hopeful. Hope is contagious. When the people around you are hopeful, eventually, you will be too. I think it is about norming to the group. If the group is hopeful, people will norm to that belief.
2. Focus: Having too many things in your life that you want to change can be overwhelming. On a much smaller scale, the playroom in my house is a colossal mess. It will take days to get it cleaned up. It is so messy that cleaning it is making me overwhelmed and hopeless. But, by focusing on very small achievable goals, I am slowly chipping away at it. (5 garbage bags in the trash and 3 to Goodwill so far.) By focusing your goals on 1 or 2 things or breaking a larger goal in to manageable bites, things will seem more hopeful.
At the end of the day, hope comes from within, it isn't like happiness that you can fake. It is something you know if you have of if you don't. Part of trying to change that situation comes from assessing, do you have hope in your life or not? If you don't, do you want to do something about that? If you do, make hope part of your daily life.
This week is my last post with the group. As you all know I have been chronically late. This stems from the other activities in my life that keep me from being able to sit in front of a computer. Until I'm able to do this easily from my phone it is always going to be an issue. Being late has taken the fun out of the project. I'm not paid for this, I do it for fun. Since it has stopped being fun and has become a chore it is time for me to head off into the sunset.
What that means for the future of the blog remains to be seen. My plan is to still try an post at least weekly, but not have a specific topic. It may mean that I don't post at all, it may mean that it frees me up to post more. I have all these ideas lately, so I am hopeful that I will post more frequently than I have. In any event, I hope that you stop by again to see what I'm up to.
A big thank you to the amazing ladies I have had the opportunity to write with. I am humbled by your talents and was grateful to be included in your group. Best wishes to all of you!
I hope that you will take a moment to read what do the other ladies have to say on hope: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl
The idea stems from an article I read that hope is something that is good for you, that people who don't have hope in their lives generally are less productive and have less fulfilling relationships with others. I thought is was interesting that hope was tied to productivity.
Before we get to deep into the topic, hope is not the same as happiness or optimism. It is about feeling that life is worth living and being happy to be alive. Happiness and optimism live within hope, and hope can live without them. Hope comes from within, it is really how you feel about things. So, truly hopeful people aren't faking it. I saw a great quote about hope, it basically said that hope is internal, and you know if you don't have hope. You can't lie to yourself about it.
A part of hope is working towards a goal, there is more to it than just goal setting and achievement. Hope is about belief that the goal is possible and that you deserve to attain it. So many of us think, I would like X, Y or Z, but we don't believe that we can achieve it or that even if we can we don't deserve it.
You can create more hope in your life. No matter how hopeless it seems! Some ideas:
1. Surround yourself with people who are hopeful. Hope is contagious. When the people around you are hopeful, eventually, you will be too. I think it is about norming to the group. If the group is hopeful, people will norm to that belief.
2. Focus: Having too many things in your life that you want to change can be overwhelming. On a much smaller scale, the playroom in my house is a colossal mess. It will take days to get it cleaned up. It is so messy that cleaning it is making me overwhelmed and hopeless. But, by focusing on very small achievable goals, I am slowly chipping away at it. (5 garbage bags in the trash and 3 to Goodwill so far.) By focusing your goals on 1 or 2 things or breaking a larger goal in to manageable bites, things will seem more hopeful.
At the end of the day, hope comes from within, it isn't like happiness that you can fake. It is something you know if you have of if you don't. Part of trying to change that situation comes from assessing, do you have hope in your life or not? If you don't, do you want to do something about that? If you do, make hope part of your daily life.
This week is my last post with the group. As you all know I have been chronically late. This stems from the other activities in my life that keep me from being able to sit in front of a computer. Until I'm able to do this easily from my phone it is always going to be an issue. Being late has taken the fun out of the project. I'm not paid for this, I do it for fun. Since it has stopped being fun and has become a chore it is time for me to head off into the sunset.
What that means for the future of the blog remains to be seen. My plan is to still try an post at least weekly, but not have a specific topic. It may mean that I don't post at all, it may mean that it frees me up to post more. I have all these ideas lately, so I am hopeful that I will post more frequently than I have. In any event, I hope that you stop by again to see what I'm up to.
A big thank you to the amazing ladies I have had the opportunity to write with. I am humbled by your talents and was grateful to be included in your group. Best wishes to all of you!
I hope that you will take a moment to read what do the other ladies have to say on hope: Froggie, Momarock, and Merrylandgirl
