“No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an unchartered land, or opened a new doorway to the human spirit.” ~ Helen Keller
Since the dawn of humanity there have been struggles and cataclysmic events that have tested the hearts and minds of the most optimistic….devastating wars, disastrous fires and droughts, pandemics that swept the globe and brought out the best and worst within us.
BUT, and I emphasize, but human history is not only of cruelty but of compassion, sacrifice, courage and kindness too. My point is that whatever we choose to focus on determines our lives…if we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something about it.
None of us has the capacity to foretell the fate of the world….not the astrologers, the analysts or the shamans. No one! Some want to believe those that say that in the not too distant future, our world will collapse into a miserable dystopia. A strong case can also be made that we are evolving, albeit with a bumpy pace, towards better days, more growth and in retrospect we have learned to ‘never miss twice’.
Approaching 2022 I’m making a stronger case for hope…hope that is a life-sustaining force and establishes our relationship to the future. I believe that when we perceive the future consciously as the best case scenario, odds are that it will likely turn out the way we want. When our view of what’s to come is optimistic it becomes our second nature to live it too.
This may sound like ‘looking through rose-tinted glasses’ but it’s far from it…hope has to be combined with action. It’s like we’re in a dark tunnel and at the end of it is a ray of light….that’s what I mean by hope. We can’t just wait for the light to find us…we have to crawl under, climb over and around all the obstacles to get to that light!
Embracing hope would mean to jog our memory to recall how much things have changed….from the Berlin Wall to the Arab Spring, from reproductive rights to sexual harassment, the “me too” movement to women’s equality in the workplace and governments like Finland run by women. Did we ever think that a young man’s suicide can start an uprising, or a farmer’s sustained protest can bring about a policy reversal in the government? People fought for them and won! The important thing is that things do change, maybe not at the pace we’d like, and even more, we can play a role in that change.
Change is rarely straightforward. It is complex and slow….incidents become sparks and the bonfire is lit. Hope isn’t wishful thinking….when you are hopeful you’re creating a movement and your optimism takes you towards proactive measures; even physically you’re healthier, recover from illness quicker and live a fruitful and long life.
Hope is imaging a future where we explore new possibilities to learn and grow. I like what Dawson says, “ few people think about the future….it doesn’t just happen, it’s created by all of us.” The first is to believe that it’s possible! What do I believe that sustains my hope? I believe in the amazing human intellect, the resilience of nature, the power of young people and the indomitable human spirit. I also believe it’s contagious!
I want to end with what Rebecca Solnit has to say, “ Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with. To hope is to give yourself to the future and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.”
So here’s to embracing hope for 2022! Wishing everyone an amazing year ahead!
Cheers!
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