Hope insulates us against stress. It inspires us to overcome difficulties. It reduces the song of one’s burden — the excess baggage of surplus, negative emotions we carry during tough times. It is not just that when the going gets tough, the tough get going, right? Everyone does — in one way, or the other — the parallel being of foresight, not just courage.
Hope stretches beyond the present circumstance. It holds the mirror to the future. It enables us to perceive the impending with animated optimism, even when one does not expect things to be perfect. Nothing is perfect — what one hopes for, in the midst of chaos, is optimism for things to slowly, but steadily, perk up.
Hope is not only a physical, emotional and functional sense of the future; it also embodies, in more ways than one, a purpose. It holds enormous meaning for us to believe in our dreams, vision, our goals and also ourselves. It involves a state of perseverance, in the wake of setbacks. In a purely logical sense, hope is the modification of our innumerable thought processes. It holds the power to self-belief, self-motivation and self-direction. It not only prods us to weather life’s countless storms; it also spurs us to keep at it and keep it going, come what may. Hope may not work sometimes, more so when we throw in the towel easily. It may, of course, emerge ‘out of the blue’ — at the drop of a spark of hope ignited at a distance.
All of us have our favourite analogy for hope. For some, the first form of hope emanates on a daily basis. There is hope in the air. This offers us a sense of intention to achieve our daily goals. It also urges us to wake up at first light, each day, and live life with simple daily pleasures, not just riches alone. For some, hope is a goal-oriented pursuit — to meeting objectives, clearing hurdles with both flair and drive, or climbing several notches up on the career ladder. It is also overcoming challenges. It is regular work too that needs to be finished to take home the rewards in close proximity to the future. This may encompass instant, or deferred, satisfaction — where a good thing emerges like raindrops falling on the head, swiftly, or where one has to wait for the right time, or right moment, to arrive, as it were.
For most of us, there is yet another form — long-term hope. This is life nourishing. It sustains and helps us to understand that, notwithstanding troubles, life will always offer us both significance and purpose at every step of our journey. Long-term hope relates and connects itself to our mindful soul. It arms us with a vibrant feeling that instils in us the wholesome power to effect, or bring about, change over a period of time. It takes a long time for a coconut tree to grow and bear fruit. In like manner, long-term hope gives us the resolve to work hard and achieve goals, one thing at a time.
Hope is not limited to just expectations for the better. There is also a downside to its overall chemistry. This is called false hope — two sides of the same denomination. This is also reason why some of us cling to hope as something that will happen — or, use it as an instrument of denial. Interestingly though, a strange quirk may seize a sudden hopeful element in our mind. This leads to a turnaround. You know its name — extraordinary hope, followed by powerful hope. It inspires us all to surmount every abyss, or gloom.
