The Power and Promise of Hope
Before you read any other posts that predate this one, linger here. It will provide context for all the posts before this one. It is also the context in which all future posts will be written. The quote is from Joseph Addison, an English essayist, poet, and statesman. He lived from 1672-1719.
When you believe in something you act in accord with those beliefs and your subsequent actions result in outcomes of hope or disappointment. It really is that simple. Put another way, choosing what you believe in and what actions you decide to take in living out your beliefs results in either living with a sense of hope or with a sense that things are “out of your control.” If we give up the right to hold individual beliefs or to freely act in accordance with our beliefs, feelings of anxiety, tension, anger, and disappointment can take the place of the hope we are seeking.
I promised that I would share some “good news” with you in the second installment of this three-part series on hope. To that end I want to offer eight “beliefs” that influence many of us. Then I will suggest “good news” actions that can result in hopeful outcomes. For the discerning among the folks who are reading this post, you may recognize the eight beliefs to which I am refering. These beliefs substantially affect the quality of our lives and consequently our sense of worth.
Continue reading “Finding Hope One Step At A Time – Step Two”
It all has to do with money. It’s just that simple. Ever since our Founding Fathers declared that we should all be free to strive after life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, too few resources have been chasing too many folks wanting their rightful share of the resources available. This has created innumerable problems as the population of the USA has grown. We have outspent ourselves as a country and we have not figured out how, or even why, we should pay for what things cost.
Nothing but bad news! I am disappointed with the news that reaches us. Perhaps you are too? No matter whether we turn to network news sources, cable, internet or general social media, we are being bombarded with news that for the most part, does not inspire or offer solutions to an ever growing list of what’s wrong with the world.
So this blog, dedicated to the theme of hope, will cease to be relevant unless it can offer you some good news, some solutions to the problems that confront us. So here is my plan.
Someone who is now remembered only as Anonymous speaks with words that cannot be better assembled. A smart writer, when confronted with such words, does not attempt to transform those words for his or her own purposes. To you, my Anonymous source, my thanks for the words you have written.
Hope works in these ways: it looks for the good in people instead of harping on the worst; it discovers what can be done instead of grumbling about what cannot; it regards problems, large or small, as opportunities; it pushes ahead when it would be easy to quit; it “lights the candle” instead of “cursing the darkness.” Anonymous