Building resilience through hope

Building resilience through hope.

Take a moment to think – what is hope? Is it something given to you? Were you born with it? Or perhaps it is something that can be learned?

Well, the answer may be surprising to you – that, in fact, hope is a learned skill. Hope doesn’t sit under the tree waiting for you, instead – it happens within you, in action and your own choice.

Researchers who study hope explain that hope has three essential parts to it (R. Snyder “Hope Theory”).
1. A goal – what you desire?
2. Pathways – your ability to see ways you can achieve your goal.
3. Willpower – your mental energy that keeps you going.

Hope is so much more than just a wishful thinking and we often confuse it with simply wishing for a change.

The rising of hope.

You can rise hope in yourself and as well in others through an act of kindness, self-care practices and by accessing your inner resources.

Among various other ways is mindfulness and meditation, practicing the art of breathing, or simply taking a walk in nature, practicing gratitude, having supporting people around you. There are so many tools easily accessible to us.

Here is one simple hopefulness practice that can be taken in small steps.

Bring the positive to your routine. These are simple things, but don’t underestimate its affects and that simple things we simply forget to follow.

Pick 3 positive activities, something you enjoy and can access easily, it can be even really small things, like having a nice cup of chocolate drink or taking a yoga class. Try to have at least one of those positive activities every once a week.

Include positive social interactions – spending time with people that are good for you and pleasant to be around. It can even be an online time if otherwise is not possible. Sharing a moment with your friend and family can be extremely helpful. Everything happens through relationships, since we are social beings – better relationships is happier life.
And lastly, try to bring in a positive thinking. It can be quite a challenge to think positive, especially in difficult times, but if you can find a moment of gratitude, from there it will get easier further. How about just consciously looking for a good thought by asking yourself “what has been good about my week?”. If you follow the first two – positive activities and interactions, you will surely have some positivity going on in your life and so the nice thoughts will be a more welcome guest.

You can build hope after you lost it in the face of adversity. Hope is never lost completely, every time you can rise your hopefulness again. Your resilience strengthens with hope, you heal through hope and strengthen your relationships.

Hope is powerful and it changes lives.