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The Meaning of Hope and Its Role in Our Life

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Published: Dec 3, 2020

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Why You Need Hope In Your Life

What's In This Article: ☰

According to 20 years of scientific research conducted by positive psychology founder Martin Seligman, hope reduces feelings of helplessness, boosts happiness, reduces stress, and improves the quality of life [ 1 ]

Hopeful people can face even the worst times with a positive attitude . That’s why hope is one of the most important personality qualities, along with being spiritual.

Plus, there are many health benefits of hope. For instance, it significantly improves our mental health. Because it provides positivity, it helps us through handle stress and anxiety.

In a moment we will look at the reasons why hope is important in life. But first, let’s look at what hope is.

What is hope

To be hopeful is to look at the future positively and to see opportunity in challenges, rather than challenges in opportunities. In other words, it means to “look on the bright side of life.”

It is the ability to see the possible good in future events, especially when those events are potentially detrimental . Indeed, positive psychology researcher Barbara Frederickson says hope “opens us up” and allows us to focus on the positive. Of course, the opposite of hope is despair and dejection. And these have terrible health consequences.

Desmond Tutu once said, “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness,” which I personally think is a beautiful definition of hope.

What it is NOT (“Blind Hope”):

Hope is not blindly expecting positive things to fall into your lap. Nor is it hoping that you will magically avoid every potential danger. To clarify, hope isn’t wishing. That’s blind hope, which can lead to inadvertent harm (for instance, not going to the doctor about a pain in your chest because you’re blindly optimistic everything will be okay).

Many people have a negative view of hope because of “false hope” and “blind hope”. People often think that hopeful people are naive, even foolish, and that they believe good things will happen when in truth they never will.

Heck, many of my own friends think I am naïve and foolish for pouring countless hours into this website in the hope that it might someday pay off big time. Arguably, it might not pay off. So, is that hope or stupidity? It can be hard to tell.

Furthermore, dictionary definitions of hope also use words like “anticipation”, “excitement” and “faith”, but these aren’t really the same as hope.

Hope is about positive beliefs when we have a clear goal in mind. It’s about a belief that we can overcome challenges, adversity, and hostility.

Why hope is important in life

Researchers and philosophers often debate whether it is better to be realistic, optimistic, or pessimistic. After all, all those traits have pros and cons. But we do know for certain that hope is excellent for our health and happiness.

Indeed, hope is considered one of the essential qualities in life. Other essential qualities include:

Compassion
Forgiveness

Positive characteristics like these are good for our health. For instance, consider these benefits of being hopeful:

Helps support mental strength and happiness
Makes you wake up feeling positive.
Helps you control your emotions
Improves general health
Reduces stress
Reduces joint pain (pessimism causes stress which makes us hold the body in ways that produce pressure, worsening joint pain)
Improves respiration
Is essential for self-worth
Reduces anxiety
Improves social relationships
Motivates positive action that leads to real-life success.
Helps strengthen the immune system [Donna Lou Udelman PhD, FPM, FOA from the journal Stress & Health]
Improves social relationships (you’ll make more friends as an optimist according to Snyder, C. R., Harris, C., Anderson, J. R., & Holleran, S. A. (1991) in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) ( SOURCE )
Makes you happy
Broadens and builds your mind
Leads to courage, confidence, and self-efficacy.

Of course, one of the main reasons why hope is important is that life will kick you in the butt if you let it.

We all face setbacks. We all wonder at times whether we will survive. And sadly, most of us know what it’s like to feel like you’re right on the brink of disaster. If you are negative at these difficult times, you will face stress, anxiety, and other mental health conditions.

In one study, researchers studied the effect of hope on college students. Results showed that a hopeful mindset leads to better grades. [Matthew W Gallagher, University of Houston, Journal of Happiness Studies 2017].

Students with elevated levels of optimism are more likely to succeed at school, more likely to have high-quality friendships, and less likely to suffer anxiety and depression. Why?

When you are optimistic you are more willing to work hard to create success. Optimistic students study harder because they believe they can succeed. And because of this, they achieve higher results than students with low levels of hope.

Hope is the motivating factor

When you do not believe your work will pay off (when you’re hopeless) you quite logically won’t try very hard.

Imagine going to the gym every day genuinely thinking that you will never be fit. What a downer. Now imagine being optimistic that you will end up looking and feeling amazing. That positivity would make you genuinely want to workout harder, and as a result, you will be more likely to succeed in your goal.

The opposite of hope is hopelessness . And this is a serious threat to health and happiness. I learned this for myself during a hard time of my life.

For six months, my life felt hopeless

I was living in Canada, thousands of miles away from home with no family and very few friends. I went through a break-up. It rocked me to the core. I was incredibly pessimistic at the time. Homeless, I thought it was the end. And because I was so pessimistic, I suffered emotional trauma. I went through depression.

That time cost me a lot, in terms of my health. I suffered a severe stress reaction, had chronic eczema (caused by stress), and spent most of my time thinking all manner of terrible thoughts.

It could have been avoided. I could have chosen to have faith and to be positive, to believe that everything would come right in the end and that I would land back on my feet, which I eventually did.

Had I been optimistic I would have saved myself a great deal of mental suffering.

Maybe you’ve been through a similar time of hopelessness. And if so, I’m sure it affected you greatly.

Hope is a safeguard.

Winston Churchill said, “When you’re going through hell, keep going”. Hope gives you the strength to keep going.

Hope Equals Motivation

The most hopeful people in the world are also some of the most motivated.

If you were completely hopeless, you wouldn’t bother to even attempt to do anything positive because… well, you’ll fail, right? So why would you even bother? Without hope, it all seems so utterly pointless.

Hope gives you motivation. It’s the voice inside that says, “Yes, you can.” It’s that voice that makes you work hard, that makes you learn new things, and gives you the impetus to try.

In Hope Theory, which is a psychological theory of hope, it’s believed that when we are optimistic we are given the motivation to make positive choices and to take positive actions that will move us along the path to success. A lot of research backs this claim. But forget the science. We can all feel, inside, what it is like to be hopeful and why it matters so much.

How Hopeful Are You?

Psychologist Charles R. Snyder devised a way to measure how much hope someone has. He called it the Hope Scale.

Take the test below to discover your own rating:

(Text version of test)

Answer these questions from 1 to 8. 1 is for “absolutely false”. 8 is for “absolutely true”.

I can think of many ways to get out of a jam.

___ 2. I energetically pursue my goals.

___ 3. I feel tired most of the time.

___ 4. There are lots of ways around any problem.

___ 5. I am easily downed in an argument.

___ 6. I can think of many ways to get the things in life that are important to me.

___ 7. I worry about my health.

___ 8. Even when others get discouraged, I know I can find a way to solve the problem.

___ 9. My past experiences have prepared me well for my future.

___10. I’ve been pretty successful in life.

___11. I usually find myself worrying about something.

___12. I meet the goals that I set for myself.

Add-up your scores for questions 1,2,3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, and 12.
Subtract your responses to questions 7 and 11
Total is out of 80. 0 = Totally without hope. 80 = Very hopeful
Items 2, 9, 10, and 12 make up the agency subscale. These are about believing in where you’ve been and where you’re going.
Items 1, 4, 6, and 8 make up the pathway subscale. These questions are about being able to see ways to succeed and ways to avoid failure.

Are you hopeful

This test will tell you how hopeful you are, but it will also tell you where you need improvement.

For instance, lots of people meet the goals that they set themselves (question 12) but don’t energetically pursue their goals. If this is you, it could be a sign that you are not setting high enough goals (because you’re achieving your goals without the need to pursue them energetically).

Or you might find that you worry about your health, and other general worries and you don’t believe you are well prepared for the future. This is a classic sign of pessimism, so you might like to take some progressive steps to be more hopeful and less pessimistic.

Hope VS other traits

Okay. So, we know that hope matters. But is it as important as other mental traits? For instance, spirituality. Is hope more or less important than spirituality? What about sense of humor? That’s important too. Perseverance is critical. And Fairness. I could go on.

How does hope compare to these other mental traits?

We know that hope is more important than self-efficacy (your belief in your ability). We know that because psychologists Philip R. Magaletta and J.M. Oliver measured the effects of both and compared them.

But it might not be as crucial as some other character strengths.

One study shows that when it comes to well-being, gratitude and love of learning are the most important personality traits. In another study, it was determined that to be in the military the most important character qualities are Leadership, Teamwork, and Open-Mindedness.

Nevertheless, hope matters, so how can you become more hopeful?

How to be more hopeful

Be mindful of your expectations .

Whether you are an optimist or a devout pessimist, you will have certain expectations of the future. To begin developing hope, become aware of the fact that you choose the way you view the future. You can look on the bright side or the dark side. You can choose to be positive. Find the opportunities where you can turn pessimism into optimism.

Challenge Pessimism

Pessimists tend to think that looking on the negative side of things is being “realistic.” Somehow, it seems more realistic that things will turn out bad, but in reality, there’s no more self-deception in looking on the bright side than the dark side.

Think of something you feel pessimistic about. Whatever it is, you will know specific facts about it and have some uncertainties. Now consider how you are using those facts and uncertainties to falsely create a negative perspective How could you create a positive perspective instead?

Understand what causes pessimism

There are reasons for pessimism. More often than not, it’s because you are afraid to look positively at something and end up being hurt.

To counteract this, tell yourself that even if you do end up disappointed you will then turn that disappointment into a positive.

To illustrate this: imagine you’re awaiting your university exam results. You know you could pass, you know you could fail, but you’re going to choose to believe that you’ve failed simply to save yourself from disappointment (this is the pessimistic outlook).

You can, however, look optimistically and still avoid disappointment.

To do so, realise that you’ll likely pass the exam (optimism) but that even if you don’t you will turn failure into a positive, for instance by learning lessons from the experience that strengthen your character and set you up for future success (optimism that safeguards you from disappointment).

Seek awe and inspiration

Psychologist Dacher Keltner, PhD., states that being inspired and feeling awe can help produce positive emotions including hope. For instance, if you gaze up at the stars, or sit by the ocean, you can feel that sense of awe, and that can lead to hope.

Hope is good for health, happiness, and success. Research shows that optimistic people are more likely to live fulfilling lives and to enjoy life. Plus, by relieving stress, hope helps to reduce the risk of many of the leading causes of death (high blood pressure, heart attack etc.).

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Essays About Hope: Top 5 Examples Plus 5 Prompts

No matter what happens in life, we all have hopes and dreams. If you are writing essays about hope, you can start by reading our top examples and prompts.

Hope is said to be “the remedy for grief and despair.” It allows us to long for better days whenever we are feeling down. When we are hopeful, it is as if we are trying to wish or manifest for something to happen; we sincerely anticipate whatever we are hoping for.

Hope is an important feeling since it keeps us optimistic, but like all things, it is not good in excess. We often get lost in our hope and let it delude us into thinking the most unrealistic things. It is good to hope, but you should not allow it to get the best of you.

5 Top Essay Examples

1. a reflection of hope by shannon cohen, 2. my hopes & dreams by celia robinson, 3. hope: the forgotten virtue of our time. by paul j. wadell, 4. an ideal of hope by jonathan belle.

5. Hope and Reality by Greg Arnold

1. What Is Hope?

2. what do you hope for your future, 3. what makes me hopeful, 4. feeling hopeless in life, 5. how to help others be more hopeful.

“Hope is a fighter. Hope may flicker or falter but doesn’t quit. Hope reminds us that we are Teflon tough, able to withstand the dings, scratches, and burns of life. Hope is the quintessential “hype-man.” Hope will have you raise the roof, jump up and down, and rock side to side believing that you are magic, your dreams are within reach, and your life is greater than your present circumstances. We All Need Hope.”

Intertwined with quotes about hope, Cohen’s essay describes the many roles that hope can play in our lives. With hope, we can learn from our mistakes and improve ourselves. It fuels us to achieve our goals, helps us keep persevering, and inspires us. We are also the products of our ancestors’ hopes and dreams.

“As I have mentioned earlier, everyone wants to become successful in the future. I do also; I want to go University, yet I haven’t decided what for so far. I want to grow up and make my Parents proud, especially when my Dad’s up there watching over me. I want to be happy. But every step I take, has the potential of changing my entire path, where my life is leading. So I must live life to the full, no matter what. Hope is something everyone needs.”

Robinson reflects on what she is hopeful for, recalling her childhood fantasies of living an idyllic, magical life. She discusses her dreams of going to university and making her parents, specifically her deceased father, proud of her. She hopes to live life to the fullest and for a better world. In particular, she hopes to see the day when cancer is no longer as severe an issue as it is today. Hope is important and is something everyone should have.

“Hope keeps us from being so immersed in the good things of this world that we forget who we really are, a people on the move, pilgrims who are called not to stay put but to move toward the feast. Most of all, hope prevents us from becoming so comfortable with the pleasures of life that the possibility of a journey never even occurs to us.”

Wadell writes about hope from a Christian point of view; however, his message speaks to everyone. He gives readers a brief history of hope as a virtue in Christianity, saying that hope should be directed towards God and his kingdom. Hope allows us to appreciate all that is good in the world while keeping us longing for more. To nurture our feelings of hope, Wadell says that we must practice gratitude and spread hope to others.

“Hope is important because hope involves the will to get there, and different paths for you to take. Life can be difficult and that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Yet, hope allows you to keep going down different roads, to see things different, and to try and make things for your perfect ideal. This hold true, even when there seems like there isn’t a solution.”

In this essay, Bell writes about his interpretation of hope: it is universal and gives us the will to work for whatever we hope for, not just sitting around and waiting for it to happen. For our hopes to be fulfilled, we must also put in the work. Bell also writes that you can strengthen your sense of hope by surrounding yourself with positive people and planning your goals. We are also called to bring hope to others so we can be hopeful for a better future.

5. Hope and Reality by Greg Arnold

“Don’t be pessimistic and you have to remember that most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all- Dale Carnegie. Finally, it is acceptable to spend some time in hope but don’t live in it, you need to live in reality which is the way in getting things into results.”

Arnold’s essay explains the importance of keeping our hopes grounded in reality, not too optimistic yet not negative as well. We cannot predict the future, but we can at least yearn for the better and strive to work for it to happen. He believes that we should stop being so pessimistic about the world and dream big, for the hopes of many can be accomplished with hard work and determination.

5 Prompts for Essays About Hope

The definition of hope can differ from person to person, as our experiences shape our sense of hope. In your essay, you can write about what hope means to you. Then, briefly explain why you are hopeful and what you hope for if you wish. You can also check out these essays about jealousy .

Essays About Hope: What do you hope for your future?

We all have our hopes and dreams for our futures. Reflect on hope and share what you hope for in your future and why you hope for it. Perhaps you hope for a long and healthy life or something as simple as hoping for a good grade on your test. The scope can be as small as a few days or ten years, as long as you can share your thoughts clearly and descriptively.

For your essay, you can write about what makes you hopeful. Describe a person, memory, idea, or whatever else you may choose, and explain why it makes you hopeful. Many things invoke hope, so make sure your essay reflects your personal opinion and includes anecdotes and memories. For example, you may have a relative that you are inspired by, and their success could make you hopeful for your own future.

Essays About Hope: Feeling hopeless in life

The world is not perfect, and we all feel despondent and hopeless from time to time. Look back on time you could not bring yourself to hope for better. Discuss what led you to this situation and how you felt. This may be a sensitive topic to write about, so do not go too in-depth if you are not comfortable doing so.

If someone you know is feeling hopeless, chances are you would try to lift their spirits. Address your essay to people who feel hopeless and give tips on improving one’s mental health: they can be as simple as getting more sleep or being outdoors more. For an in-depth piece, cite psychological studies to support your tips.

Grammarly is one of our top grammar checkers. Find out why in this Grammarly review .

For help picking your next essay topic, check out our top essay topics about love .

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

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Why Hope Matters

Hoping we can make things better is the secret to doing so..

Posted February 5, 2019 | Reviewed by Jessica Schrader

My first November as a professional writer wasn’t an easy one. My only client failed to pay his bill, I was receiving more rejections than assignments, my arthritis was flaring and my cat got $1,200-worth-of-vet-bills sick. I didn’t know how I was going to make my house payment and my stomach was upset. I stopped sleeping . But, I never stopped hoping. I believed that I could make this writing business work, and I set to work making that happen.

Hope Comes With the Possibility of Something Better

Hope implies that there is the possibility of a better future, according to the famed hope researcher C.R. Snyder. It shows up at the worst possible time when things are dire and difficult, but can keep us going during those hard moments. If during the difficulty, we can see the faint glimmer of something better, then hope “opens us up,” says Barbara Fredrickson, a positive psychology researcher. And turn us toward something better.

Hope is not a passive exercise in wishing, but an active approach to life, arising when there is something we want when we've got a clear goal in mind. And though it may be tough going, we’ll develop a plan to get us closer to where we want to go.

My goal was to be a full-time writer. My plan included sending out dozens of queries each week, writing every day, working with a mentor, taking classes. I taught to make ends meet. Did some public relations work, wrote at night. And, I was willing to take an early-morning job delivering papers if I needed. Anything to leave time to write.

Through each of these actions, I made a little progress. Experienced a little success. Made a little money, sold a short article, became a better writer. Those things kept me hoping, and that hope motivated me to keep working toward the ultimate goal.

Hope is motivating for me, even now, 23 years later. It’s not a delusional wishing things away, but a clarity of vision. Once you have your goal in mind, then you can get busy doing the things you need to get there. It helps me feel more empowered and less stressed .

And right now, that matters more than ever. Looking at the challenges we face, the hostility and adversity that seems to be seeping into the corners of our culture, the hope that we can make a positive difference in our families and communities can help us do it. Can help us move from the negative into something a little better.

Hope Helps Us Keep Going

Research indicates that hope can help us manage stress and anxiety and cope with adversity. It contributes to our well-being and happiness and motivates positive action. Hopeful people believe they can influence their goals, that their efforts can have a positive impact. They are also more likely to make healthy choices to eat better or exercise, or do the other things that will help them move toward what they are hoping for.

Then, other positive emotions such as courage and confidence ( self-efficacy ) and happiness emerge. They become our coping strategy, the emotions crucial in helping us survive. They allow us to take a wider view, become more creative in our approach and problem solving, and retain our optimism .

Hope isn’t delusional. It isn’t denial . It doesn't ignore the real challenges, details of the diagnosis, or dwindling money in the checking account. It is not woo-woo thinking.

It doesn’t ignore the trouble, or make excuses, or deny danger. It is not pretending. It is acknowledging the truth of the situation and working to find the best way to cope. It’s showing up and working through the hard stuff, believing that something better is possible. It’s resilient .

We can prime ourselves to hope, to move closer to optimism and action. Here’s how:

Seek inspiration and awe . Research by psychologist Dacher Keltner, PhD., shows that when we are so moved by something that we can hardly find the words to talk about it we are experiencing awe and that creates meaning, and positive feeling which contributes to a sense of hopefulness that can keep us moving forward. Awe reminds us of something bigger and vast. Causes us to slow down, think about what's important to us, and connect in a deeper way. I feel it every time I look at the ocean, and there is nothing more hopeful to me than watching the waves, roll in an out no matter what's going on around them.

Re-identify your goals. Maintaining a clear vision about what’s important and what we want to contribute and achieve also contributes to hope. When you are reminded of your big goals, the things that drive you to get up in the morning, you reconnect with your deeper values. Then, you’re more likely to persist because the process—the lifestyle that comes from living close to your values—helps you prevail despite obstacles.

Appreciate the setbacks and move through them. Hope is strengthened exponentially when you hit a setback and you persist despite it. Next time you run up against one, pay attention to what it offers you—a growth opportunity, a chance to learn something you need to know to accomplish your goals—then move through that challenge.

We all know tough times are going to come. Maybe you are in one now. Hope reminds us that we can continue and despite challenges, and pursue greater possibilities.

That’s a powerful feeling. One that keeps us moving instead of staying stuck in the despair.

It worked for me early on in my career —I did make the house payment, I’m still self-employed, still writing. Still hoping.

Polly Campbell is the host of the Polly Campbell, Simply Said podcast and the author of three books, including How to Live an Awesome Life and Imperfect Spirituality .

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Why Is Hope Important? (14 Reasons)

Hope is more than just a fleeting thought; it’s the foundation of our courage to face each new day. It reminds us that there’s an after to every before, a resolve for every challenge, and a new chapter waiting to be written, despite the seemingly endless plot twists of our lives.

How vital, then, is this unassuming companion called hope? And how might its steady glow transform the canvas of our days?

If you’re feeling the tug of curiosity, come along as we delve into why hope might just be the most underrated hero in our life’s story. What brilliance could unfold if we let hope take the lead? Let’s find out.

Table of Contents

Hope Motivates Us to Take Action Toward Positive Change

When we’re brimming with hope, it’s like we’ve got this internal cheerleader egging us on, whispering: “ You’ve got this! ” It’s more than just a pep talk; it serves as a kind of psychological fuel that propels us from mere intention to tangible action.

And let’s be honest, the leap from wanting to change to actually doing the work is massive, isn’t it? This is where hope steps in, bridging that gap with enthusiasm and confidence.

Hope acts as a catalyst:

Inspiration: It sparks creativity and a desire to pursue new ideas.
Motivation: It drives us to start and follow through on our goals.
Determination: It helps us push against obstacles and not give in to defeat.

Hope Fuels Resilience and Perseverance

Hope is our resilience, our ability to bounce back and keep growing despite life’s setbacks. It’s what we lean on when the days are tough and the nights are long.

Think back to a time when you were knocked down. Maybe you lost a job, faced a health scare, or wrestled with a personal loss. Reflect on how hope enabled you to persevere, to face another day, to rebuild, and to heal.

We cling to hope like a life raft in the stormy sea of life. It doesn’t eradicate the challenges; rather, it gives us the toughness to withstand them, the gumption to say, “ This will not be the end of my story .”

Some profound ways in which hope fortifies our spirit in the face of adversity:

Embrace the challenging periods as part of your journey.
Allow hope to remind you of your inner strength and past victories.
Call upon hope to reignite your will to press on.

Hope Enhances Our Sense of Purpose

Hope emerges as our navigational tool, pointing us toward a horizon of meaning and direction. It’s not just about having goals; it’s about feeling that your life is leading somewhere significant, that there’s a reason for your daily efforts.

When hope intertwines with purpose, it becomes a powerful source of motivation. It gives you a reason to get up in the morning, to push through challenges, and to pursue your passion with tenacity.

Moreover, hope fires up the engine of our actions, powering us through rough patches and keeping us on course when distractions beckon. It’s a reminder that every chapter in life, no matter how mundane or chaotic, plays a role in a larger narrative. When you couple hope with purpose, you transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Hope Supports Us in Trusting What We Cannot See

Hope encourages us to believe in the intangible, to trust in potential, and to invest in the unseen future. When we hope, we’re effectively saying, “ I believe in the possibility of something greater, ” and that belief can withstand the tests of the visible and the immediate.

Imagine Three Scenarios Where Hope Lights the Way:

The Artist : Beginning a canvas with only a vision in mind, trusting that each stroke will lead to a masterpiece.
The Patient : Going through a health treatment, believing in recovery and a return to wellness.
The Student : Studying late into the night, trusting that this investment of time will lead to a successful career.

In each case, hope doesn’t promise a clear vision of the end result; it simply assures us that there’s something worth striving for beyond the horizon.

Reaffirm your trust that the effort you put in today plants the seeds for tomorrow’s successes.
Let the certitude of hope be the anchor in your vision for your future.
Embrace the mystery and potential of what lies ahead, fueled by the confidence that hope offers.

Hope Strengthens Our Mental Health

Through every layer of our mental well-being, hope weaves its healing threads. It’s the reassurance on anxious mornings and the solace in uncertain times. When our thoughts race towards worry or fear, hope steps in as a gentle guardian, nudging us toward positivity and strength.

Connect with others, share your hopes, and let their support reinforce your mental fortitude.
Practice mindfulness or meditation; focus on a hopeful vision to soothe your mind.
Engage in activities that spark hope within you, be it through art, nature, or spirituality.

Nurturing hope is integral to our mental health because it provides us a refuge, a reason to smile inwardly, and the resilience to cope with our daily battles. With hope as our ally, our mental landscape can be a sanctuary of optimism and a foundation of emotional stability.

Hope Enables Us to Endure Life’s Challenges

When we are tasked with enduring life’s numerous challenges—a sudden illness, job loss, or personal betrayal—it’s hope that often serves as our beacon. It isn’t just the light at the end of the tunnel but the very torch we carry to navigate through the darkness. It gives substance to the belief that these challenges are but moments in time, that they will ebb and flow, and that we, resilient beings, will emerge stronger on the other side.

Hope’s role in enduring challenges is multifold:

It tilts the scales from despair to determination.
It fosters a resolve to rise above our current plight.
It reminds us that our endurance is finite and will not be taxed beyond return.

Consider the marathon runner. For them, every mile is a fresh challenge, and yet it’s hope—coupled with training and endurance—that carries them forward and heralds them toward the finish line.

Hope Encourages Personal Growth and Development

As we travel the path of personal growth, hope serves as a reliable compass. It encourages the pursuit of knowledge, the shifting of habits, and the refinement of character.

Growth Chart of Hope:

Investing in ourselves, setting goals for improvement, and stretching beyond our comfort zones—these are acts buoyed by hope. We read books, attend workshops, practice new skills, and embark on inner explorations, all with a hopeful eye toward the people we wish to become. Hope believes in our unlimited potential.

Remember, it’s within the quiet moments of determined effort and within the loud celebrations of milestone achievements, that hope sings its sweetest song—a melody of continuous, unwavering advancement.

Hope Improves Our Quality of Life

With hope, the mundane becomes inspired, the routine, spirited, and the average, exceptional. It’s through hope that a better quality of life is not just a possibility but a palpable reality we can shape and cherish.

Consider the following touches of hope in our daily lives:

Starting a new fitness regime with the hope of better health.
Building friendships with the hope of deep connection.
Learning a new skill with the hope of personal fulfillment.

All these actions, embedded with hope, enhance the fabric of our day-to-day existence, making it vibrant, textured, and rich. It’s hope that gives us the gusto to improve our circumstances, seek harmony, and embrace the tidings that life has to offer.

Hope Underpins the Development of Faith

Hope serves as the cornerstone upon which faith is built. It’s a subtle dance between believing in something bigger than ourselves and the yearning for a certain sense of certainty in an uncertain world. Whether it’s the faith we place in each other, in a higher power, or in the universality of human goodness, hope is the silent pulse mothering that faith.

When we observe acts of kindness, even in the face of adversity, it’s often hope that has sowed the seed. For instance:

A community coming together to support a local family after a crisis.
Volunteers tirelessly work to clean up after a natural disaster.
Individuals choose forgiveness over bitterness in the aftermath of conflict.

In each of these actions, hope remains the unsung hero – a tenacious hummingbird tirelessly stitching the fabric of faith in humankind.

Hope Fosters Happiness and a Sense of Well-Being

Joy often bubbles up unexpectedly, familiar as the chorus of a favorite song or the comfort of a friend’s laughter. It’s in these moments that life feels rich—and it’s hope that sets the stage for such spontaneity of happiness.

Whether it’s:

Anticipating an enjoyable future event,
Reflecting on the possibility of achieving personal goals,
Or simply trusting life’s ebb and flow,

Hope is the fertilizer that nurtures our daily joys and fortifies our sense of well-being. It prompts gratitude for the present and eagerness for what’s yet to come. Even on days when clouds loom, hope tends to the garden, ensuring that happiness is never withered by life’s unpredictable climate.

Hope Inspires Us to Dream and Envision a Better Future

Hope is the painter of dreams; it gives us the palette to color our futures with the shades of possibility. When we hope, we allow ourselves to think big, dream beyond our current realities, and paint a picture of a future that excites and motivates us.

With every dream of a better tomorrow, hope lays the foundation:

For the career we aspire to build.
For the love we eagerly anticipate.
For the fulfillment, we yearn to embrace.

With hope, we give ourselves the freedom to dream big: aspiring authors see their words in print, aspiring entrepreneurs envision successful ventures, and those seeking love imagine deep, meaningful connections. It’s hope that empowers us to lay the foundations for these futures, even when they seem distant or out of reach.

Hope Acts as a Catalyst for Embracing Life’s Potential

When we stand before the vast expanse of our life’s potential, it’s hope that whispers, “ Jump in, the water’s fine .” No one ever discovered new shores without losing sight of the familiar ones, and it’s hope that steadies the ship as we navigate the thrilling waters of possibility. It’s not about discarding the present; it’s about embracing the potential of what could be.

With hope, career transitions become journeys of discovery, not just switches.
Lifelong learning turns into an adventure, not a chore.
Personal transformation is perceived as an exciting evolution rather than a daunting overhaul.

Each step, propelled by hopeful energy, becomes not just movement but momentum. It’s hope that turns the gears, sparks the chain reaction, and unleashes the domino effect of positive change throughout our lives.

Hope Reduces Stress in Our Lives

Stress is like an uninvited guest that loves overstaying its welcome, but hope has a way of showing it the door. When you shift your focus from worry to hope, you’re essentially choosing to highlight the exit sign in a room that otherwise feels like it’s closing in.

Here’s some food for thought:

Hope acts as our personal stress-busting superhero, swooping in to save the day with a fresh perspective.
It whispers confidence into our ears about overcoming past obstacles and reassures us that we can do it again.
It’s the tool in our kit that turns “ tunnel vision ” into “ horizon gazing ,” expanding our view to include the light at the end of the tunnel.

By allowing hope to redefine our approach to stress, we’re opening the door to a life where calm isn’t just a fleeting visitor but a regular, cherished companion.

Hope Helps Us to Envision and Work Towards Fulfilling Aspirations

When we aspire for more—whether it’s learning a new language, climbing the career ladder, or building stronger relationships—it’s the flame of hope that keeps the chill of doubt at bay and the path ahead illuminated. This isn’t just about big leaps; it’s about the small, consistent steps that carve out the road to our aspirations.

Hope transforms day-to-day actions into meaningful progress:

It’s waking up an hour earlier to write that novel bit by bit.
It’s choosing the salad over the burger because we hope for better health.
It’s saving pennies in a jar, hoping to turn them into memories on a trip abroad.

Every aim, no matter how lofty, starts with the simplicity of hope. It creates a blueprint from which we can build the structure of our aspirations. With hope as our guide and hard work as our effort, we’re not just dreamers; we’re architects and builders.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can hope have a negative side how do we avoid false hope.

Hope is generally a positive force, but unrealistic or false hope can lead to disappointment if expectations are not managed. To avoid this, it’s important to base hope on realistic goals and possibilities, prepare for different outcomes, and adapt as situations evolve. Hope should inspire action and progress, not lead to passivity or denial.

How can I help someone who has lost hope?

Encouraging someone who has lost hope can be done by listening to them, providing emotional support, highlighting past accomplishments, and helping them set small, achievable objectives. Being a reliable and positive presence in their life can also remind them that they’re not alone and that there’s reason to hold onto hope.

Final Thoughts

As we’ve journeyed through the ins and outs of hope and its undeniable importance in our lives, it’s clear that this isn’t just some airy-fairy concept—it’s a tangible force that holds our hands through the darkest nights and cheers us on towards the dawn. Hope is the unsung melody that turns life’s dissonances into a harmonious score, encouraging us to believe in the beauty of our aspirations.

So, let’s hold hope dear like a compass pointing toward our dreams. Allow it to infuse every step with optimism and every breath with courage. Because, when all’s said and done, it’s hope that gives us the resolve to say, “ Tomorrow is another day, ” and believe that it’s one brimming with potential and grace.

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Bea Mariel Saulo

7 Reasons Why Finding Hope For The Future Is So Important

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woman looking at sunrise over the ocean illustrating hope

What is hope?

Why is hope so important?

How can I find hope?

These are the questions we will attempt to answer in this article.

So let us begin.

Speak to an accredited and experienced therapist to help you find hope for the future if you’re struggling right now. You may want to try speaking to one via BetterHelp.com for quality care at its most convenient.

What Is Hope?

Of all the thoughts and notions a person can have, hope is probably closest to trust.

When you have hope, you are placing your trust in the potential for something positive to happen.

You are trusting that taking the right actions will make a positive outcome more likely than taking the wrong actions.

When you hope for a better future, you are placing trust in yourself to make good choices in life.

When you trust someone, you hope that they will act in a way that embodies that trust.

When you jump out of an airplane, you hope you land safely, and you trust in your parachute.

The very act of carrying on and living your life is, by itself, a display of hope. It is the trust you have that when you go to bed at night, you will wake up to a new day that is filled with possibility.

What Hope Is Not

Look in a dictionary and you’ll see definitions for hope that include words such as desire, anticipation, and expectation.

But these are not really what hope is about.

The problem with desire, anticipation, and expectation is that when a particular thing is not forthcoming, they can disappear, leaving a void into which negative thoughts and feelings enter.

Just think of a child opening his birthday presents. He desires, anticipates, and expects a particular thing – a toy or bike, for instance.

When this thing is not forthcoming, what does he do? He gets upset. He has a tantrum. He is not grateful for the presents he did get.

But hope is not tied to a particular outcome.

Hope does not depend on certainty. Hope is merely the belief that there is the potential for something good to happen.

That something good is not anything specific. It is merely the idea of a positive outcome.

As Desmond Tutu once said:

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.

The light is not a particular thing. The light is just something good – the potential for something good.

Why Is Hope So Important?

Now that we know what hope is and what it is not, why does it matter so much?

What are the reasons to have hope in life?

1. Hope is a healer.

We all face difficult times and we all get hurt. It’s inevitable.

But hope helps us to see that there are many positive possibilities ahead of us.

Hope whispers, “Things will get better.”

Hope puts the hurt and pain into perspective and reminds us that things are forever changing.

When we are at our lowest point, it is hope that lifts our head and shows us a path back toward something good.

Remember, hope is akin to trust, and when your general feelings are negative, you must trust that they will pass.

2. Hope shows us how to act.

Though hope is not tied to a particular outcome, it can still be a guiding force in our lives.

When we have hope, we are more likely to see the opportunities that come our way.

When we have hope, we are more likely to choose a path that leads to something positive.

When we have hope, we are more likely to act in a way that promotes a peaceful and joyful life.

Hope is a bit like an unseen compass that points us in the direction of something beneficial to our future.

3. Hope is a motivator.

Hope is a source of energy. It helps us to see something better up ahead and to put one foot in front of the other to move forward.

When we feel hopeful for the future, we wake up in the morning ready to embrace the day.

We are more prepared to work hard, to strive, to be willing to tackle and overcome the obstacles that we face .

Hope keeps us going when we hit a brick wall. It reminds us of why we are pursuing this path and of the potential for something good to come of it.

Hope allows us to answer Y-E-S! when life asks whether we’ve got what it takes.

4. Hope encourages self-belief.

Hope not only helps you to believe that something better is coming, it gives you the belief that you are the person who can make that something better come true.

When all we do is desire something to happen, we do not empower ourselves to try to make it happen.

But when we hope for something better, we tell ourselves that we have the power within us to change our direction of travel.

William Faulkner summed this up nicely when he said:

You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.

If all you do is wish for new horizons, you are unlikely to see them.

It is hope that gives us the self-belief (or courage as Faulkner put it) to step onto a boat, cast off from the shore, and set sail, even if we do not yet know our destination.

5. Hope combats negative thoughts.

It is difficult to have negative thoughts and be hopeful at the same time.

Hope allows us to see light at the end of the tunnel and this light acts as a challenge to any unwanted thoughts.

When you think, “I can’t do this,” hope reminds you how capable you are.

When you think, “this is a disaster,” hope reminds you that things will improve.

When you think, “I hate my life,” hope reminds you that the future is full of potential.

Whilst hope can’t eradicate all negative thoughts immediately, the more we can nurture a feeling of hope, the less those thoughts will pop into our heads.

6. Hope brings inner peace.

As with negative thoughts, hope can help ease negative feelings too.

Hope is the opposite of despair.

Whereas despair creates a breeding ground for self-loathing, inaction, and depression, hope allows joy, enthusiasm, and a quiet contentment to grow.

Even whilst a challenging situation remains, hope can transform our inner landscape into one that is less affected by the outside environment.

7. Hope is contagious.

People want to feel hopeful. They really do.

They want to believe – to trust – that the future is bright.

Which is why they are so willing and able to absorb the hope of others.

Hope spreads quickly. When the possibility of a better future is put forward, people are ready to listen and believe.

And so, the last reason why hope is important is because the more hope we have, the more hope we will inspire in others.

How To Find Hope For The Future

Now that we’ve hopefully convinced you of the importance of hope, let’s turn our attention to some of the ways you can find it.

1. Recognize your power.

Believe it or not, every action you take has an effect on things.

Every action pushes you toward a particular outcome.

This is your power.

It is up to you to use this power in a way that is beneficial to your life.

Learn to recognize cause and effect in your life and be aware of the decisions you are making.

2. Ask what positive actions you can take.

Once you understand the power you have in life, it’s time to ask how you might influence things in a positive way.

Look for opportunities to take an action which increases the likelihood of a positive outcome occurring.

Don’t expect or desire any particular outcome – remember that these things are not hope.

Just try to act based upon your values and you should head in the right direction.

3. Connect with people who have faced similar circumstances.

Whatever you are going through right now that has left you lacking in hope, know that plenty of other people have been there too.

Try to find and connect to these people and allow them to both support you and guide you.

This might mean following personal blogs, finding online forums, or going to meetings in real life.

The key is to find a community – even if that only involves sitting quietly and reading or listening to others.

It makes it easier to find hope again when you know that you’re not alone.

4. Lean on those closest to you.

You might be doing a good job of hiding how you feel from your family and friends.

Or it might be written all over your face, body language, and actions.

Either way, these are people who love you and care for you. They will want to help you rediscover hope.

They may not be able to offer you the knowledge or guidance that comes from the communities discussed above, but they can still give you lots of time and energy to help you through this period in your life.

This support network can help you with the practical things and the emotional healing, so as difficult as it might be to admit that you’re struggling, trust that they will be there for you.

5. Speak to a professional.

Both the communities from point #3 and your more personal support network from point #4 will probably advise you to get help from a mental health professional.

Listen to this advice.

A professional has the expertise and experience to help you tackle the very specific thoughts, feelings, and challenges in your life.

They will be able to provide you with specific tools that you can use to change how you think and find hope once more.

As much as we’d like to say this article is all you need, we know that it is only the starting point of your journey.

BetterHelp.com is a website where you can connect with a therapist via phone, video, or instant message.

While you may try to work through this yourself, it may be a bigger issue than self-help can address. And if it is affecting your mental well-being, relationships, or life in general, it is a significant thing that needs to be resolved.

Too many people try to muddle through and do their best to overcome issues that they never really get to grips with. If it’s at all possible in your circumstances, therapy is 100% the best way forward.

Here’s that link again if you’d like to learn more about the service BetterHelp.com provide and the process of getting started.

6. Work on your self-esteem and self-worth.

People often feel despondent and without hope when they look in the mirror and don’t truly like the person they see staring back at them.

Part of the process of bringing hope back into your life is growing to like who you are and seeing the value you have as a person.

Again, a professional will help with this, but here is an article that might help you in the meantime: To Grow Your Self-Esteem Over Time, Do These 10 Small Things Regularly

7. Don’t expect answers to all of the questions.

Remember that hope is a show of trust in the likelihood of a positive outcome.

But it can’t predict the future.

If you struggle to find hope because you don’t know how everything will turn out, or even the steps you’re required to take, don’t worry.

You can’t know the answers to all of the questions.

You just have to trust that things will happen and that something good will come of it.

Sometimes you’ll know what to do and other times you’ll just have a feeling that something is right.

Go with that feeling – it is your intuition, which is strongly linked to hope.

8. Be a source of hope for others.

When you don’t know where to find hope, look for it in those who need your help.

Even when you are struggling, you have the power to bring hope to other people by giving your time and energy to their needs.

This might mean helping out at a community organization or performing acts of kindness and generosity to friends, neighbors, or strangers.

You’ll find that being a source of hope for others becomes a source of hope for you.

Make this something you do even when you regain your hope.

9. Rejoice in the little things that make life worth living.

When hope is missing, life can seem drained of all its color and vibrancy.

But you can combat this feeling and find your hope once more by recognizing the little things and brief moments of calm in your life.

Showing gratitude for those positive things that already exist in your life makes it easier to trust in the potential for even better things ahead.

If you’re struggling to think of such little things, check out this post: The Simple Things In Life: A List Of 50 Little Pleasures

To sum things up…

Hope is not just important, it is one of the most essential things in life.

Hope keeps us going. It reminds us that bad times cannot last. It spurs us on to greater things.

If you have lost hope, the challenges you face may seem insurmountable. Which is why it’s vital that you try to find hope again – even if it’s just a tiny slither to begin with.

Speaking to a professional should definitely be your first step, and we hope that the other points above will help you on your journey too.

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul – and sings the tunes without the words – and never stops at all. – Emily Dickinson

It is a good idea to seek professional help from one of the therapists at BetterHelp.com as professional therapy can be highly effective in helping you to discover hope where now you see none.

About The Author

Steve Phillips-Waller is the founder and editor of A Conscious Rethink. He has written extensively on the topics of life, relationships, and mental health for more than 8 years.

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Essay on Hope | Meaning, Purpose, Importance of Hope In Life

Essay on Hope | Meaning, Purpose, Importance of Hope in Life Essay For Students

Hope is an emotion that is characterized by strong desires for certain outcomes to happen. Hope is an emotion that drives humans to achieve their goals. It provides the sense of purpose so they can work towards it. It is not only the desire for something good but determination to achieve something good even if you have to face many difficulties along the way.

This is also known as optimism, which enables you to set goals and achieve them. Hope can vary from person to person. It can be intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. While intrinsic means that one gets hope by themselves, the latter means that others encourage someone to achieve their goal by providing external motivation such as money or fame

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Hope and optimism are often used in conjunction with each other, but they are not the same. Both involve having an optimistic mindset to achieve a certain goal, but hope is more of an emotion while optimism is more of a mindset. Hope involves wanting something to happen in the future with strong desire or determination.

It can drive people to achieve their goals and dreams, even through tough situations. Optimism, on the other hand, is a mindset that allows you to see positive outcomes in your situation rather than dwelling on the negative. Hope involves having a strong desire or determination to follow through with one’s goal or dream despite going through difficult times.

Importance of Hope in Life

Hope is a necessary in our lives because it gives us the desire to achieve something that we think will make us happy. It also provides the determination to complete tasks despite difficult conditions.

For instance, if you are sick and bedridden, without hope you wouldn’t want to do anything about your life; but with hope you would be motivated to get up and be productive. Hope also provides a greater reason to live life the way you want because it is a desire for things to happen rather than an acceptance of how things are going.

Many people would die if they lost hope in human decency and goodness, but those with hope would still try to make the world a better place no matter how small their efforts. Hope also helps people be sustained in their lives through tough times and this is important because humans need to grow stronger as they face various problems

Benefits of Hope in Life

There are several benefits that hope provides in life. Hope allows you to see the good around you and encourages many people to go after their goals, dreams, and aspirations. Hope helps people have a greater desire to achieve something in life because they have a strong need to be happy. This gives them the internal motivation to do things that are necessary for their happiness.

Hope also makes people hopeful about their future which means they will be optimistic about what is to come. This encourages people to take risks and try out new things that may be necessary for their happiness.

People who are hopeless may decline to do anything because they think it would be useless. They can’t see any positive outcomes in their lives, which makes it hard to keep things up. Some people may also blame themselves for not doing anything to better their lives, which can cause depression or mental issues. Some even think that they don’t deserve to be happy or don’t have the right to pursue their dreams and aspirations, which can lead to many problems such as addictions and even death.

Hope is an important feeling to keep in life because it keeps us strong and ready for anything. Without hope, we would be victims to our lives and rather than looking forward to a better future we would be stuck in a rut.

Hope is a feeling that gives humans the desire to achieve their goals and dreams. It makes them see positive outcomes despite difficult circumstances, encourages people to take risks and follow their dreams, and keeps people strong and motivated.

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Hope is a necessity in everyone’s lives because it provides us with the strength to achieve our goals despite the challenges we face. It gives us the motivation to try harder and accomplish what we desire in life, which is something that everyone should have.

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How hope can keep you happier and healthier, hope is more than just positive thinking..

Hope can erode when we perceive threats to our way of life, and these days, plenty are out there. As we age , we may struggle with a tragic loss or chronic disease. As we watch the news, we see our political system polarized , hopelessly locked in chaos. The coronavirus spreads wider daily ; U.S. markets signaled a lack of hope with a Dow Jones free fall. Losing hope sometimes leads to suicide .

When there is no hope—when people cannot picture a desired end to their struggles—they lose the motivation to endure. As professor emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University, I’ve studied positive psychology, forgiveness, wellness and the science of hope for more than 40 years. My website offers free resources and tools to help its readers live a more hopeful life.

What is hope?

First, hope is not Pollyannaish optimism— the assumption that a positive outcome is inevitable. Instead, hope is a motivation to persevere toward a goal or end state, even if we’re skeptical that a positive outcome is likely. Psychologists tell us hope involves activity, a can-do attitude and a belief that we have a pathway to our desired outcome. Hope is the willpower to change and the way-power to bring about that change.

With teens and with young or middle-aged adults, hope is a bit easier. But for older adults, it’s a bit harder. Aging often means running up against obstacles that appear unyielding—like recurring health or financial or family issues that just don’t seem to go away. Hope for older adults has to be “sticky,” persevering, a “ mature hope .”

How to build hope

Now the good news: this study , from Harvard’s “ Human Flourishing Program ,” recently published. Researchers examined the impact of hope on nearly 13,000 people with an average age of 66. They found those with more hope throughout their lives had better physical health, better health behaviors, better social support and a longer life. Hope also led to fewer chronic health problems, less depression, less anxiety and a lower risk of cancer.

So if maintaining hope in the long run is so good for us, how do we increase it? Or build hope if it’s MIA? Here are my four suggestions:

Attend a motivational speech —or watch, read or listen to one online, through YouTube, a blog or podcast. That increases hope, although usually the fix is short-lived. How can you build longer-term hope?

Engage with a religious or spiritual community. This has worked for millennia. Amidst a community of like believers, people have drawn strength, found peace and experienced the elevation of the human spirit, just by knowing there is something or someone much larger than them.

Forgive. Participating in a forgiveness group , or completing a forgiveness do-it-yourself workbook , builds hope, say scientists . It also reduces depression and anxiety, and increases (perhaps this is obvious) your capacity to forgive. That’s true even with long-held grudges. I’ve personally found that successfully forgiving someone provides a sense of both the willpower and way-power to change.

Choose a “hero of hope.” Some have changed history: Nelson Mandela endured 27 years of imprisonment yet persevered to build a new nation. Franklin Delano Roosevelt brought hope to millions for a decade during the Great Depression. Ronald Reagan brought hope to a world that seemed forever mired in the Cold War. From his fourth State of the Union address: “Tonight, I’ve spoken of great plans and great dreams. They’re dreams we can make come true. Two hundred years of American history should have taught us that nothing is impossible.”

Hope gets you unstuck

Hope changes systems that seem stuck. Katherine Johnson , the black mathematician whose critical role in the early days of NASA and the space race was featured in the movie “Hidden Figures,” recently died at age 101. The movie (and the book on which it was based) brought to light her persistence against a system that seemed forever stuck. Bryan Stevenson, who directs the Equal Justice Initiative , and the subject of the movie “Just Mercy,” has successfully fought to help those wrongly convicted or incompetently defended to get off death row.

Stevenson laments that he could not help everyone who needed it; he concluded that he lived in a broken system, and that, in fact, he too was a broken man. Yet he constantly reminded himself of what he had told everyone he tried to help: “Each of us,” he said, “is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.” Hope changes all of us. By regaining his hope, Bryan Stevenson’s example inspires us.

Regardless of how hard we try, we cannot eliminate threats to hope. Bad stuff happens. But there are the endpoints of persistent hope: We become healthier and our relationships are happier. We can bring about that hope by buoying our willpower, bolstering our persistence, finding pathways to our goals and dreams, and looking for heroes of hope. And just perhaps, one day, we too can be such a hero.

This article was originally published on The Conversation . Read the original article .

About the Author

Everett L. Worthington Jr.

Everett L. Worthington, Jr., Ph.D. , is Commonwealth Professor Emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University and co-editor (with Nathaniel G. Wade) of Handbook of Forgiveness , 2nd ed. (2020, Routledge). He studies forgiveness, humility, and other character strengths and virtues within positive psychology.

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Why Is Hope Important? Here Are 10 Important Reasons!

Why is hope important.

Without hope in my life, I wouldn’t be writing this today. As a young girl, it lifted me up when I repeatedly found myself crushed and defeated. It motivated me to dry my tears and dust myself off so I could try again when it was I who failed someone or something, or when it was someone or something that failed me. And still today, hope is my anchor. I hold tightly to it as it walks with me through grief, disappointment, and betrayal . The only difference today is that I know a lot more about why hope is so important and where my hope comes from.

In this life, there is no escaping heartache. Sorrow is a natural emotion. The tears that go with sorrow can be healthy. But staying stuck in the sorrow or the pit of despair is neither healthy nor natural. Hope allows us to feel the pain and then work toward healing. It keeps us from getting stuck.

What Is Hope, Exactly?

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines hope as:

to cherish a desire with anticipation: to want something to happen or be true.
to expect with confidence : TRUST
desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment
someone or something on which hopes are centered

Hope is a positive belief and emotion. It brings peace because there is trust. It reminds us that this season of pain isn’t forever and that joy can be experienced again. Hope is something we as humans need to not only live life but to live life to its full. That is why hope is so important.

But it is also a muscle we must work out to keep strong. Even though some people may be generally more predisposed to hope than others, it doesn’t come naturally to any of us.

What Hope Is Not

Hope is not a feeling that everyone naturally experiences. As I mentioned previously, some people struggle with it. Therefore we must intentionally choose to live in ways that incorporate hope into our lives. We must tap into our source of hope and develop a lifestyle and habits that encourage it.

Hope is not a passive exercise in wishing, but an active approach to life, arising when there is something we want when we’ve got a clear goal in mind. And though it may be tough going, we’ll develop a plan to get us closer to where we want to go. -Polly Campbell of Psychology Today

Real hope isn’t just a momentary feeling, like happiness. It’s not that moment of hopefulness. But rather, it is having hope at the essence of our soul. Hope for more than a moment and in all seasons, through all the highs and lows we experience in this life.

For example, when I lost my father a few months ago, the kind words, gifts, cards, and flowers made me hopeful. They touched my heart and reminded me that I am loved and cared for. I treasured each act of kindness. However, I’m talking about something different here. I’m talking about the kind of hope that starts with a capital H. The Hope that says our sorrow will be replaced by joy. That life can feel full again someday.

For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning. -Psalm 30:5

The Hope of Christ is eternal and tells us that on the other side of this life, is an eternal life where there are no more tears. That gives us the motivation to get back up and keep living even when it “feels” impossible. It is a Hope that defies our feelings by replacing them with the Truth that we know from God and His Word.

The Biblical Foundation of Hope

Hope is the foundation of our faith. Just as He is Love, God is Hope. The Biblical definition takes the Merriam-Webster definition and strengthens it by turning the focus to God. Biblical Hope goes from “expect with confidence” to “expect with confidence because God does not fall short of His promises .”

Earthly or worldly hope in our life falls short because we are imperfect and live in an imperfect world. I wouldn’t want anyone to base their hope on me or my actions because no matter how hard I try, I still fail. We are not capable of carrying that burden well. It is unattainable and only hurts all the parties involved. God is the only One who can handle the expectation. He does not disappoint and He cannot fail anything. He is the only One who loves us beyond measure even when we make a mess of things.

Hope in God is anchored in God’s promises, His character, and His death and resurrection. God’s hope is eternal. He promises us that even though there will be trouble in this world, those who love Him will live eternally in Heaven with Him where there is no more pain or sorrow.

10 Reasons Why Hope Is Important in Our Life

Ever wondered why hope is so important? What is the difference between being hopeful and having hope? What role does Christ play in hope and what is Biblical hope? In this post we cover all this and more! Read on and print a list of 5 Bible verses in times of sorrow.

1. It motivates us.

When we are knocked down by our circumstances, hope in our life empowers us to try again. If we didn’t have hope, we would believe that our goal or success was impossible after one setback.

After we adopted our daughter in 2011, parenting felt like a series of failures. Our daughter’s needs were greater than we ever expected and our lives were turned upside down. I had to learn to parent in a new way and surrender to God all over again. I had to trust He would take a floundering me and equip me to be the best mom for her. If it weren’t for Him and his hope, I would have given up instead of relentlessly pursuing our sweet girl.

2. Hope strengthens our physical and mental health.

People with higher levels of hope tend to have less stress, anxiety, and depression. It helps us deal with adversities like illness, injury, loss, and death. When we have less stress, not only our mental health, but our physical health improves. With lower stress, we tend to sleep and eat better which is conducive to better health. Overall, it is a powerful tool in the fight to stay healthy.

People who live hopeful lives tend to be optimistic about the future. Optimism is conducive to better health, more success, and stronger relationships.

I want to clarify here, though, that having hope doesn’t eliminate illness. Many diseases and illnesses are genetic or unavoidable. I live with chronic illnesses. Although my hope is strong, my diseases do not disappear. However, when I have more stress and less peace, I experience flare-ups. When I lose motivation to eat well and exercise, the disease steals more away from me. The more hopeful and optimistic I am, the more I see God at work accomplishing immeasurably more than I could ever imagine.

3. It infuses joy into life.

When people are hopeful about their future, they tend to be grateful, too. Grateful people more often lead joy-filled lives.

When we live with gratitude, we become noticers of all things good. We begin filtering life through a lens of optimism. And so when we notice all things good, we soak in the moments. We receive the joy of the moment God is giving us. It’s a beautiful cycle instead of a vicious cycle!

4. Hope allows us to have healthy relationships.

When we are our best selves, we can have our healthiest relationships. Hope helps us cope with adverse situations. Relationships involve conflict. How we handle that conflict matters. The choices we make are critical to handling the hard times. Hope helps us move forward and work toward resolutions.

Being emotionally healthy also means being emotionally available in the good times and bad. It makes us aware of the other person’s needs and gives us the potential to listen and be there for them.

5. It fosters a sense of humor.

Hope is an emotion. We all feel it. But we often don’t recognize its value. It allows us to step out of whatever is bad in our lives and still see the good. It allows us to laugh even when we grieve and see the humor in our mistakes or frustrations.

6. Hope allows us to learn from and move through past setbacks.

Feeling hopeful gives us confidence and helps us overcome obstacles. We don’t get stuck in the setback. We can learn from our mistakes and move forward as a wiser and more equipped version of ourselves.

When we feel hopeless, our brain releases adrenaline which makes us feel like we are in danger. When we feel as though we are in danger, we are not able to make wise decisions. Fear grows and we tend to fight, flee, or freeze instead of work through the situation.

Adrenaline in small doses is a good thing. However, when it is long-term and often, our body gets overburdened with adrenaline and begins to experience fatigue, anxiety, and a multitude of other symptoms.

This article, How Your Anxiety May Be Adrenaline Withdrawl , by Suzie Glassman over on Medium is a great deeper dive into the effects of adrenaline fatigue.

7. It opens our eyes to opportunity.

Hope keeps us moving through the difficulties and toward the good. As I mentioned before, hopeful people tend to have more gratitude. Gratitude opens our eyes to blessings. When we are looking in the right direction, we see opportunity instead of blinding ourselves with negativity or victimhood. We look at how we can solve our problems and change our circumstances.

Hope builds our faith in God, ourselves, and others. We believe God does what He says because we noticed when He did it before. We have faith in ourselves because we know God equips us and we remember how we made it through before.

8. Hope heals us.

When we have God’s hope, we allow Him to work within us. We tend to be willing to do the work to heal which may mean professional counseling or support groups.

When I was grieving the loss of my father this year, it seemed that nothing would go right. Loss, struggle, triggers, injuries, relationships … At times it felt as though everything was falling apart. Anxiety and depression loomed over me.

But for God.

It wasn’t as though God healed me overnight. But it was His hope that allowed the healing to happen. Little by little, Hope replaced the shattered pieces of my brokenness as they washed away.

9. It fights fear.

Think of all the words that are the opposite of hope. Fear, despair, doubt, uncertainty. None of these words inspire and none of these words bring the joy and peace that hope in God brings. That’s why you must fight for it at all costs. Clarence L. Haynes Jr. of Bible Study Tools

Fear takes us out of the game. It sits us on the sidelines of our life. Fear is an obstacle between us and achieving our goals. Hope is the opposite. It throws us in the game because we play with faith that propels us forward. It is active because it keeps us in the game of life. It keeps us from giving up or running away and pushes us towards our goals, not allowing fear to be an obstacle.

10. Hope helps others.

Hope is contagious. It gives us the ability to see the good in others. To see their potential. As we put one hopeful foot in front of the other toward something better, we can bring others along with us. Our best self will only encourage others to be and do their best as well.

Ultimately, if we live a hope-filled life, we make the world a better place for everyone. I believe that is something our world needs today more than ever before.

5 Bible Verses In Times of Sorrow

These 5 Bible verses will help you in times of trouble. There is the power to save in God’s Word. That is why He tells us His Word (the Bible) is the Sword of the Spirit . Praying Scripture is a wonderful way to pray. It assures us we are praying God’s Will and gives us the words when we are overwhelmed and our minds can’t seem to find the words.

Each verse below is a prayer of Hope for :

“So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.” -Deuteronomy 31:6 NLT “

2. A Future

“There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.” -Proverbs 23:18 NIV

3. Peace and Joy

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” -Romans 15:13

4. Patience

“For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” -Romans 8:24-25 ESV

5. Eternity

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” -Revelation 21:4 ESV

Download My Hope Toolkit

When your reservoir of joy and hope is depleted, you need to begin looking in the right places. Each day, we are bombarded with negative news. With this free 5-Day Hope Toolkit, you will learn how to implement strategies to refill that reservoir and live with HOPE!

Now that we know why hope is so important, we need to start strengthening that muscle! I’ve created this Hope Toolkit to help you start strong hope-filled habits. The purpose behind this ministry is to help you unveil your hope-filled life.

Start by signing up below and getting access to the Libary of Hope where you will find the Hope Toolkit and a multitude of other free resources that will encourage you as you grow in faith.

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Thank you for this resource. I needed it this morning. I have been struggling with hope and faith my whole life. I often focus on the negative and am always in survival mode. It steals moments from me. My name is Hope and I struggle with hope. Your insights resonated with me. You put words to what I have been doing and feeling my whole life. Thank you for helping me to understand that hope is not something I have to or can muster on my own. Thank you!

Hi Hope, I am stopping to pray for you right now. That you welcome God and His hope into your heart in a whole new, life-giving way. You have taken the first brave step … acknowledging that you focus on the negative and try to muster the hope up on your own. That opens the doors to moving forward, growing in relationship with God, and finding strategies to focus on Him! I am so honored that He used my words to minister to your heart. Please reach out if you have any questions or prayer requests!

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Gay rights supporters in the US celebrate after the 2015 supreme court ruling that same-sex couples have the right to marry

‘Hope is an embrace of the unknown’: Rebecca Solnit on living in dark times

We may be living through times of unprecedented change, but in uncertainty lies the power to influence the future. Now is not the time to despair, but to act

Y our opponents would love you to believe that it’s hopeless, that you have no power, that there’s no reason to act, that you can’t win. Hope is a gift you don’t have to surrender, a power you don’t have to throw away. And though hope can be an act of defiance, defiance isn’t enough reason to hope. But there are good reasons.

In 2003 and early 2004, I wrote a book to make the case for hope. Hope in the Dark was, in many ways, of its moment – it was written against the tremendous despair at the height of the Bush administration’s powers and the outset of the war in Iraq. That moment passed long ago, but despair, defeatism, cynicism and the amnesia and assumptions from which they often arise have not dispersed, even as the most wildly, unimaginably magnificent things came to pass. There is a lot of evidence for the defence.

Coming back to the text more than a dozen tumultuous years later, I believe its premises hold up. Progressive, populist and grassroots constituencies have had many victories. Popular power has continued to be a profound force for change. And the changes we have undergone, both wonderful and terrible, are astonishing.

This is an extraordinary time full of vital, transformative movements that could not be foreseen. It is also a nightmarish time. Full engagement requires the ability to perceive both. The 21st century has seen the rise of hideous economic inequality, perhaps due to amnesia both of the working people who countenance declines in wages, working conditions and social services, and the elites who forgot that they conceded to some of these things in the hope of avoiding revolution. The attack on civil liberties, including the right to privacy, continues long after its “global war on terror” justifications have faded away.

Worse than these is the arrival of climate change, faster, harder and more devastating than scientists anticipated. Hope doesn’t mean denying these realities. It means facing them and addressing them by remembering what else the 21st century has brought, including the movements, heroes and shifts in consciousness that address these things now. This has been a truly remarkable decade for movement-building, social change and deep shifts in ideas, perspective and frameworks for large parts of the population (and, of course, backlashes against all those things).

I t is important to say what hope is not: it is not the belief that everything was, is or will be fine. The evidence is all around us of tremendous suffering and destruction. The hope I am interested in is about broad perspectives with specific possibilities, ones that invite or demand that we act. It is also not a sunny everything-is-getting-better narrative, though it may be a counter to the everything-is-getting-worse one. You could call it an account of complexities and uncertainties, with openings. “Critical thinking without hope is cynicism, but hope without critical thinking is naivety,” the Bulgarian writer Maria Popova recently remarked. And Patrisse Cullors , one of the founders of Black Lives Matter , early on described the movement’s mission as to “Provide hope and inspiration for collective action to build collective power to achieve collective transformation, rooted in grief and rage but pointed towards vision and dreams”. It is a statement that acknowledges that grief and hope can coexist.

The tremendous human rights achievements – not only in gaining rights but in redefining race, gender, sexuality, embodiment, spirituality and the idea of the good life – of the past half-century have flowered during a time of unprecedented ecological destruction and the rise of innovative new means of exploitation. And the rise of new forms of resistance, including resistance enabled by an elegant understanding of that ecology and new ways for people to communicate and organise, and new and exhilarating alliances across distance and difference.

Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty is room to act. When you recognise uncertainty, you recognise that you may be able to influence the outcomes – you alone or you in concert with a few dozen or several million others. Hope is an embrace of the unknown and the unknowable, an alternative to the certainty of both optimists and pessimists. Optimists think it will all be fine without our involvement; pessimists adopt the opposite position; both excuse themselves from acting. It is the belief that what we do matters even though how and when it may matter, who and what it may impact, are not things we can know beforehand. We may not, in fact, know them afterwards either, but they matter all the same, and history is full of people whose influence was most powerful after they were gone.

There are major movements that failed to achieve their goals; there are also comparatively small gestures that mushroomed into successful revolutions. The self-immolation of impoverished, police-harassed produce-seller Mohamed Bouazizi on 17 December 2010, in Tunisia was the spark that lit a revolution in his country and then across northern Africa and other parts of the Arab world in 2011. And though the civil war in Syria and the counter-revolutions after Egypt’s extraordinary uprising might be what most remember, Tunisia’s “jasmine revolution” toppled a dictator and led to peaceful elections in that country in 2014.

Whatever else the Arab spring was, it is an extraordinary example of how unpredictable change is and how potent popular power can be. And five years on, it is too soon to draw conclusions about what it all meant. You can tell the genesis story of the Arab spring other ways. The quiet organising going on in the shadows beforehand matters. So does the comic book about Martin Luther King and civil disobedience that was translated into Arabic and widely distributed in Egypt shortly before the uprising. You can tell of King’s civil disobedience tactics being inspired by Gandhi’s tactics, and Gandhi’s inspired by Tolstoy and the radical acts of noncooperation and sabotage of British female suffragists.

So the threads of ideas weave around the world and through the decades and centuries. There is another lineage for the Arab spring in hip-hop, the African-American music that’s become a global medium for dissent and outrage; Tunisian hip-hop artist El Général was, along with Bouazizi, an instigator of the uprising, and other musicians played roles in articulating the outrage and inspiring the crowds.

After a rain mushrooms appear on the surface of the earth as if from nowhere. Many come from a sometimes vast underground fungus that remains invisible and largely unknown. What we call mushrooms, mycologists call the fruiting body of the larger, less visible fungus. Uprisings and revolutions are often considered to be spontaneous, but it is the less visible long-term organising and groundwork – or underground work – that often laid the foundation. Changes in ideas and values also result from work done by writers, scholars, public intellectuals, social activists and participants in social media. To many, it seems insignificant or peripheral until very different outcomes emerge from transformed assumptions about who and what matters, who should be heard and believed, who has rights.

Ideas at first considered outrageous or ridiculous or extreme gradually become what people think they’ve always believed. How the transformation happened is rarely remembered, in part because it’s compromising: it recalls the mainstream when the mainstream was, say, rabidly homophobic or racist in a way it no longer is; and it recalls that power comes from the shadows and the margins, that our hope is in the dark around the edges, not the limelight of centre stage. Our hope and often our power.

C hanging the story isn’t enough in itself, but it has often been foundational to real changes. Making an injury visible and public is usually the first step in remedying it, and political change often follows culture, as what was long tolerated is seen to be intolerable, or what was overlooked becomes obvious. Which means that every conflict is in part a battle over the story we tell, or who tells and who is heard.

A victory doesn’t mean that everything is now going to be nice forever and we can therefore all go and lounge around until the end of time. Some activists are afraid that if we acknowledge victory, people will give up the struggle. I have long been more afraid that people will give up and go home or never get started in the first place if they think no victory is possible or fail to recognise the victories already achieved. Marriage equality is not the end of homophobia, but it’s something to celebrate. A victory is a milestone on the road, evidence that sometimes we win and encouragement to keep going, not to stop. Or it should be.

My own inquiry into the grounds for hope has received two great reinforcements in recent years. One came from the recognition of how powerful are the altruistic, idealistic forces already at work in the world. Most of us would say, if asked, that we live in a capitalist society, but vast amounts of how we live our everyday lives – our interactions with and commitments to family lives, friendships, avocations, membership in social, spiritual and political organisations – are in essence noncapitalist or even anticapitalist, made up of things we do for free, out of love and on principle.

An Egyptian protester waves his national flag as he is surrounded by tear gas fired by riot police in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on 25 January 2013.

In a way, capitalism is an ongoing disaster that anticapitalism alleviates, like a mother cleaning up after her child’s messes. (Or, to extend the analogy, sometimes disciplining that child to clean up after itself, through legislation or protest, or preventing some of the messes in the first place.) And it might be worth adding that noncapitalist ways of doing things are much older than free-market economic arrangements. Activists often speak as though the solutions we need have not yet been launched or invented, as though we are starting from scratch, when often the real goal is to amplify the power and reach of existing options. What we dream of is already present in the world.

The second reinforcement came out of my investigation of how human beings respond to major urban disasters, from the devastating earthquakes in San Francisco (in 1906) and Mexico City (in 1985) to the blitz in London and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The assumption behind much disaster response by the authorities – and the logic of bombing civilians – is that civilisation is a brittle facade, and behind it lies our true nature as monstrous, selfish, chaotic and violent, or as timid, fragile, and helpless. In fact, in most disasters the majority of people are calm, resourceful, altruistic and creative. And civilian bombing campaigns generally fail to break the will of the people

What startled me about the response to disaster was not the virtue, since virtue is often the result of diligence and dutifulness, but the passionate joy that shone out from accounts by people who had barely survived. These people who had lost everything, who were living in rubble or ruins, had found agency, meaning, community, immediacy in their work together with other survivors. This century of testimony suggested how much we want lives of meaningful engagement, of membership in civil society, and how much societal effort goes into keeping us away from these fullest, most powerful selves. But people return to those selves, those ways of self-organising, as if by instinct when the situation demands it. Thus a disaster is a lot like a revolution when it comes to disruption and improvisation, to new roles and an unnerving or exhilarating sense that now anything is possible.

“M emory produces hope in the same way that amnesia produces despair,” the theologian Walter Brueggemann noted. It is an extraordinary statement, one that reminds us that though hope is about the future, grounds for hope lie in the records and recollections of the past. We can tell of a past that was nothing but defeats, cruelties and injustices, or of a past that was some lovely golden age now irretrievably lost, or we can tell a more complicated and accurate story, one that has room for the best and worst, for atrocities and liberations, for grief and jubilation. A memory commensurate to the complexity of the past and the whole cast of participants, a memory that includes our power, produces that forward-directed energy called hope.

Amnesia leads to despair in many ways. The status quo would like you to believe it is immutable, inevitable and invulnerable, and lack of memory of a dynamically changing world reinforces this view. In other words, when you don’t know how much things have changed, you don’t see that they are changing or that they can change. Those who think that way don’t remember raids on gay bars when being homosexual was illegal, or rivers that caught fire when unregulated pollution peaked in the 1960s or that there were, worldwide, 70% more seabirds a few decades ago. Thus, they don’t recognise the forces of change at work.

One of the essential aspects of depression is the sense that you will always be mired in this misery, that nothing can or will change. There’s a public equivalent to private depression, a sense that the nation or the society rather than the individual is stuck. Things don’t always change for the better, but they change, and we can play a role in that change if we act. Which is where hope comes in, and memory, the collective memory we call history.

The other affliction amnesia brings is a lack of examples of positive change, of popular power, evidence that we can do it and have done it. George Orwell wrote: “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” Controlling the past begins by knowing it; the stories we tell about who we were and what we did shape what we can and will do. Despair is also often premature: it’s a form of impatience as well as of certainty.

News cycles tend to suggest that change happens in small, sudden bursts or not at all. The struggle to get women the vote took nearly three-quarters of a century. For a time people liked to announce that feminism had failed, as though the project of overturning millennia of social arrangements should achieve its final victories in a few decades, or as though it had stopped. Feminism is just starting, and its manifestations matter in rural Himalayan villages, not just major cities.

People in Timor-Leste display anti-Indonesia banners as they take to the streets in 1998

Other changes result in victories and are then forgotten. For decades, radicals were preoccupied with Timor-Leste, brutally occupied by Indonesia from 1975 to 2002; the liberated country is no longer news. It won its liberty because of valiant struggle from within, but also because of dedicated groups on the outside who pressured and shamed the governments supporting the Indonesian regime. We could learn a lot from the remarkable display of power and solidarity and Timor-Leste’s eventual victory, but the whole struggle seems forgotten.

We need litanies or recitations or monuments to these victories, so that they are landmarks in everyone’s mind. More broadly, shifts in, say, the status of women are easily overlooked by people who don’t remember that, a few decades ago, reproductive rights were not yet a concept, and there was no recourse for exclusion, discrimination, workplace sexual harassment, most forms of rape, and other crimes against women the legal system did not recognise or even countenance. None of the changes were inevitable, either – people fought for them and won them.

S ocial, cultural or political change does not work in predictable ways or on predictable schedules. The month before the Berlin Wall fell, almost no one anticipated that the Soviet bloc was going to disintegrate all of a sudden (thanks to many factors, including the tremendous power of civil society, nonviolent direct action and hopeful organising going back to the 1970s), any more than anyone, even the participants, foresaw the impact that the Arab spring or Occupy Wall Street or a host of other great uprisings would have. We don’t know what is going to happen, or how, or when, and that very uncertainty is the space of hope.

Those who doubt that these moments matter should note how terrified the authorities and elites are when they erupt. That fear signifies their recognition that popular power is real enough to overturn regimes and rewrite the social contract. And it often has. Sometimes your enemies know what your friends can’t believe. Those who dismiss these moments because of their imperfections, limitations, or incompleteness need to look harder at what joy and hope shine out of them and what real changes have emerged because of them, even if not always in the most obvious or recognisable ways.

Change is rarely straightforward. Sometimes it’s as complex as chaos theory and as slow as evolution. Even things that seem to happen suddenly arise from deep roots in the past or from long-dormant seeds. A young man’s suicide triggers an uprising that inspires other uprisings, but the incident was a spark; the bonfire it lit was laid by activist networks and ideas about civil disobedience, and by the deep desire for justice and freedom that exists everywhere.

It’s important to ask not only what those moments produced in the long run but what they were in their heyday. If people find themselves living in a world in which some hopes are realised and some joys are incandescent and some boundaries between individuals and groups are lowered, even for an hour or a day or several months, that matters. Memory of joy and liberation can become a navigational tool, an identity, a gift.

Paul Goodman famously wrote, “Suppose you had the revolution you are talking and dreaming about. Suppose your side had won, and you had the kind of society that you wanted. How would you live, you personally, in that society? Start living that way now!” It’s an argument for tiny and temporary victories, and for the possibility of partial victories in the absence or even the impossibility of total victories.

Total victory has always seemed like a secular equivalent of paradise: a place where all the problems are solved and there’s nothing to do, a fairly boring place. The absolutists of the old left imagined that victory would, when it came, be total and permanent, which is practically the same as saying that victory was and is impossible and will never come.

It is, in fact, more than possible. It is something that has arrived in innumerable ways, small and large and often incremental, but not in that way that was widely described and expected. So victories slip by unheralded. Failures are more readily detected.

And then every now and then, the possibilities explode. In these moments of rupture, people find themselves members of a “we” that did not until then exist, at least not as an entity with agency and identity and potency; new possibilities suddenly emerge, or that old dream of a just society re-emerges and – at least for a little while – shines. Utopia is sometimes the goal. It is often embedded in the moment itself, and it is a hard moment to explain, since it usually involves hardscrabble ways of living, squabbles and, eventually, disillusion and factionalism. But also more ethereal things: the discovery of personal and collective power, the realisation of dreams, the birth of bigger dreams, a sense of connection that is as emotional as it is political, and lives that change and do not revert to older ways even when the glory subsides.

Sometimes the earth closes over this moment and it has no obvious consequences; sometimes empires crumble and ideologies fall away like shackles. But you don’t know beforehand. People in official institutions devoutly believe they hold the power that matters, though the power we grant them can often be taken back; the violence commanded by governments and militaries often fails, and nonviolent direct-action campaigns often succeed.

The sleeping giant is one name for the public; when it wakes up, when we wake up, we are no longer only the public: we are civil society, the superpower whose nonviolent means are sometimes, for a shining moment, more powerful than violence, more powerful than regimes and armies. We write history with our feet and with our presence and our collective voice and vision. And yet, and of course, everything in the mainstream media suggests that popular resistance is ridiculous, pointless, or criminal, unless it is far away, was long ago, or, ideally, both. These are the forces that prefer the giant stays asleep.

Together we are very powerful, and we have a seldom-told, seldom-remembered history of victories and transformations that can give us confidence that, yes, we can change the world because we have many times before. You row forward looking back, and telling this history is part of helping people navigate toward the future. We need a litany, a rosary, a sutra, a mantra, a war chant of our victories. The past is set in daylight, and it can become a torch we can carry into the night that is the future.

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187 Hope Essay Topics: Ideas for Definition Essays, Literature Papers & More

Hope is a topic that has been discussed throughout philosophy’s history and in all Western philosophical traditions. It plays a vital role in every aspect of human life, such as religion, politics, and relationships. Hope also enables people to handle events with a mindset encouraging them to look ahead enthusiastically and positively.

In this article, our expert team has collected creative and catchy hope titles for essays that will come in handy!

🔝 Top 10 Hope Essays Topics

✍️ Hope Essay Prompts

🔤 Definition Essay on Hope
🙏 Essay on Hope and Faith

📚 Hope Essay Topics for Papers on Literature

🕊️ more great titles about hope, 📝 essay on hope: outline, 🔗 references, 🔝 top 10 hope essay topics.

The philosophy of hope.
The impact of hope on society.
Why is the concept of hope important?
Hope from a psychological perspective.
Why do hope and anxiety accompany each other?
Hope in Kant’s studies.
The cross as a symbol of hope.
Hope: personal experience.
How not to lose hope?
Example of hope in literature.

The picture shows ideas for an essay about hope.

Have you ever felt a lack of inspiration when writing a school or college essay about hope? Not this time! We have prepared creative essay prompts that will aid you in receiving the highest grades!

Is Hope a Blessing or a Curse: Essay Prompt

The Greeks considered hope the most harmful of all evils because it hindered people from accepting their fate. In addition, hope is concerned with what has not yet occurred. So, it is natural that the higher our hopes for the future, the greater our disappointment when they are unmet.

On the other hand, research finds that people are more likely to accomplish their goals when they have hope. In your essay, you can provide the advantages and disadvantages of having hope, analyze them, and come to a conclusion.

Prompt for Essay about Faith, Hope, and Love

Faith, hope, and love are central to Christianity. Some Christian churches consider them theological virtues , each reflecting principles that define humanity’s relationship with God. In your essay about faith, hope, and love, you can focus on the following aspects:

The role of these 3 virtues in religion.
Importance of faith, hope, and love in everyday life.
The example of faith, hope, and love from your experience, a film, or a book.
Key verses about these virtues in the Bible.

What Gives You Hope for the Future: Essay Prompt

Hope might be among the most challenging things to find in terrible circumstances, but one must cling to it when things get bad. Being hopeful means believing in a better tomorrow, even if today everything goes wrong.

If you need help determining what gives you hope for the future, consider these tips:

Think about the ups and downs that you have experienced.
Try to find things that make you happy and inspired.
Create a list of items you are thankful for and explain why.
Look for some stories of hopeful people or ask friends to share their experiences.

Why Is Hope Important: Essay Prompt

Hope is one of the most powerful emotions since it urges people to keep going regardless of what happens in their lives. It also provides motivation to pursue goals, no matter how difficult or unattainable they seem, and fosters a positive attitude toward daily issues.

To highlight the importance of hope, find the answers to the following questions:

How does hope help people overcome difficulties?
Why is hope one of the greatest motivators?
What is the impact of hope on mental health?
Why is hope a strength and protective factor?

🔤 Definition Essay on Hope: Topic Ideas

A definition essay aims to thoroughly explain a specific concept. If you’re looking for ideas for your definition essay on hope, here are some topics to consider:

What is the definition of hope in psychology?
The essence of hope in Christianity .
Hope in Hinduism as a concept of desire and wish.
The focus of hope on economic and social empowerment in culture.
What does the term hope mean in Judaism ?
Hope in literature as a motivating force for change in the plot.
How can hope be defined in the healthcare industry?
Hope as the perceived capability to derive pathways to desired goals.
How did ancient people define hope?
Barack Obama’s psychology of hope: definition and peculiarities.
The emotional competency of hope in the modern world.
How do different cultures define and value the concept of hope?
The role of hope in art: from ancient to modern times.
The interpretation and explanation of hope by different philosophical currents .
How is the concept of hope reflected in the works of different eras and genres?
The impact of AI technology on the perception and expression of hope.
Hope in the educational process: features.
How has the understanding of hope changed over history?
The relationship between the concept of hope and a general sense of happiness .
Hope in religious beliefs and its manifestations in believers’ behaviors.

🙏 Essay on Hope and Faith: Interesting Topics

Faith and hope are closely interrelated concepts. If you need to write an essay on hope and faith, check out our writing ideas:

The link between faith and hope in psychiatry.
Three Faiths: Buddhism, Shintoism, and Bahai Religion .
How do faith and hope help people to deal with uncertainty?
The influence of hope and faith on mental health.
Hope and faith as a foundation for religious practice and rituals .
Health Care Provider and Faith Diversity .
What is the difference between faith and hope?
The role of hope and faith in the healing process .
Hope and faith as a source of moral values.
Christian Faith and Psychology: Allies Model .
How does faith nurture and sustain hope?
The nature of faith and hope in different cultures .
European and Greek Heritage and Health Beliefs .
Hope and faith from a philosophical perspective.
The influence of hope and faith on the decision-making process.
How do religious communities promote hope and faith?
Religious Beliefs and Political Decisions .
Religious hope and faith in the context of a personal tragedy.
Hope and faith: the role in driving social change.
Social Influence and Its Effects on People’s Beliefs and Behavior .
The role of hope and faith in overcoming depression and anxiety disorders.
What do hope and faith have in common?
Political Beliefs in Changing Leadership .
The thin line between hope and faith in oncology.
Religious hope and faith as a source of the meaning of life.
How Beliefs Can Shape a Person’s Reality .
Why is hope so important to our faith?
The evolution of faith and hope in human life.

Bible Study Questions on Hope

Why, according to the Bible , hope is not a fleeting feeling?
What messages of hope are present in the Book of Hebrews?
Marriage and the Family: The Biblical Ideal & Modern Practice .
What does the Book of Romans say about hope?
How does the Psalmist convey hope in the face of adversity and uncertainty?
What role does hope play in the teachings of Proverbs?
Similarities in Family Values: The Aeneid and the Bible .
How does the Bible teach us to be confident in our hope?
What is the connection between hope and repentance in the Book of Lamentations?
Why does true hope come as a gift by trusting God ?
Relation Between God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit .
Which stories from the Bible can help us learn more about hope?
How does the book of Psalms use poetic language to express feelings of hope?
The Nature of God, Humanity, Jesus, and Salvation .
What role does hope play in the teachings of Jesus?
How does the concept of hope relate to the idea of forgiveness in the Bible?
How does Noah’s story with the flood illustrate the notion of hope?
Several Theological Perspectives in the Understanding of the Bible, Its Interpretation and Issues .
What lessons about hope may be derived from the Israelites’ experiences in the desert?
How does the Book of Revelation present a vision of ultimate hope?

Are you searching for hope essay titles in literature ? In the sections below, you’ll find topics about this theme in the poem “Hope” Is the Thing with Feathers and other literary works.

Hope Is the Thing with Feathers Essay: Topic Ideas

“Hope” Is the Thing with Feathers as a hymn of praise to hope.
The power of hope as a key idea in the poem.
“Hope” Is the Thing with Feathers: critical features of the poetic tone.
The metaphor of hope in Emily Dickinson’s poem .
Hope as a feathered creature in the poem.
The concept of hope in “Hope” Is the Thing with Feathers.
Why does Dickinson represent hope in her poem as a living thing?
The symbolism of feathers in the poem “Hope” Is the Thing with Feathers.
The abstract form of hope by Dickinson: the use of imagery and figurative language .
Soul as a hope’s home in”Hope” Is the Thing with Feathers.
How does Dickinson describe the paradoxical nature of hope in her poem?
The use of poetic devices in “Hope” Is the Thing with Feathers.
The impact of Dickinson’s poem on readers’ perceptions of hope.
Dickinson’s “Hope” Is the Thing with Feathers: comparison of hope and despair.
The peculiarities of “Hope” Is the Thing with Feathers title.

Hope Theme in Literature: More Essay Titles

The Diary of Anne Frank: how hope saved lives during the Holocaust.
The theme of hope in Louis’s journey in Hillenbrand’s Unbroken .
The power of hope in the face of difficulty in A Raisin in the Sun.
How does the author convey the idea of hope in Jane Eyre?
Orwell’s 1984: The theme of lost hope for the future.
Disillusionment of hope in The Great Gatsby .
“Hope” by Emily Bronte as a poetic interpretation of hope.
The American Dream in the Play “Death of a Salesman.”
The nature of hope in One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Night by Elie Wiesel : the concept of hope as a lifeline.
How is the theme of hope highlighted in Life of Pi?
Hemingway’s works and their connection with hope in the face of adversity.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: the hope for justice and equality.
The value of hope and humanity in All Quiet on the Western Front.
Romeo and Juliet: hope’s vulnerability in a world of quarreling families.
How does The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry reveal the various perspectives of hope?
The impact of hope on humanity’s future.
How does hope help people cope with mental and physical disorders ?
Personal Beliefs. Thought Control .
Loss of hope: practical methods and strategies to stay motivated.
The role of hope in students’ academic achievement .
Hope as a source of energy and a positive mindset.
The impact of hope on creativity in art and literature.
Restoring Hope Counselling Home for Youth .
How can hope assist in raising children?
Hope as an instrument of adaptation to changes in modern society.
Emotional regulation through hope: strategies and effectiveness.
Supernaturalism: The Existence of God and the Meaning of a Human Life .
How does hope aid in social progress and prosperity?
The efficiency of hope in goal achievement.
The Five Pillars of Islam and Its Major Teachings .
How do people stay hopeful in the face of uncertainty?
The influence of hope in business and entrepreneurship.
Hope as a powerful motivator in conflict resolution .
The relationship between hope and stress management.
The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ .
Hope and its influence on the development of emotional intelligence.
How does hope affect the ethical issues of technological development ?
The value of hope in the maintenance of positive family relations.
The role of hope in sports achievements and overcoming difficulties.
Positive Reinforcement Concepts Discussion .
Hope as a factor in maintaining environmental awareness and responsibility.
Hope and its impact on adaptation to technological innovations.
Reason and Religious Belief. An Introduction to The Philosophy of Religion’ by M. Peterson .
The influence of hope on the formation and maintenance of healthy habits.
Hope as a source of recovery in medical practices.
Positive Self-Talk and Its Impact on Athletes .
The role of hope in the creation of a positive working environment.
The influence of hope on the development of professional reputation and success .
How do we use hope for financial stability?
Argumentative Essay: I Have a Good Life .
The relationship between hope and the ability to creatively solve problems.
What role does hope play in the social integration of migrants and refugees ?
The use of hope as a driving force in the formation of psychological stability.
Managing Self-Defeating Thoughts .
How does hope drive effective leadership and teamwork?

Hopes and Dreams Essay: Topic Ideas

The economy of dreams: hope in global capitalism and its critiques.
How did COVID-19 impact Australians’ hopes and dreams?
The impact of drug addiction on people’s ability to hope and dream.
American Dream and its Drawbacks .
Hopes and dreams: common and distinctive qualities.
The contribution of hopes and dreams to a sense of purpose.
Sociology of Religion: Purpose and Concept .
The efficiency of music in conveying emotions related to hopes and dreams.
How do different cultures perceive and prioritize hopes and dreams?
I Have a Dream Speech by Martin Luther King .
The role of hope and dream in classical literature.
The psychological side of unfulfilled dreams and hopes.
How do hopes and dreams change across various generations?
The use of realism and idealism in pursuing hopes and dreams.
How can hope and dreams help to overcome post-traumatic stress disorder ?
The opportunities and obstacles teenagers face in pursuing their dreams and hopes.
History: In Search of the American Dream .
Childhood dreams and hopes and the development of adult identity.
How do social media shape individuals’ hopes and dreams?

Ideas for an Essay on Youth Is Hope

The pressure of high hopes for young people in the 21st century.
How do role models aid in instilling hope in young individuals?
Youth Involvement in Political Processes .
Young people’s political activism as a source of public hope.
The youth as a driving force of any country or culture.
Impact of Information Technology on Youth Development .
The role of youth in breaking stereotypes and fostering hope.
Youth and international relations : hope for peace in the world.
The potential of young political leaders to justify the hopes of society.
Educational Program for Young Nurses .
Youth and gender equality: hope for a future without discrimination.
The role of young educators in creating a hopeful future for the next generation.
Youth as the backbone of society and hope for a better life.
Young Adulthood and Millennial Leadership .
How does technological progress inspire youth to be more hopeful?
Environmental activism of young people: creating hope for a sustainable future.
Youth as hope for creating solidarity and respect in society .
Is it justified to place high hopes on the youth?
Youth and inclusiveness: hope for the future of equal opportunities.

Wondering how to structure your essay about hope? Leave it to us! Here is a perfect outline of a hope essay for students with examples!

Hope Essay Introduction

The introduction gives your reader a clear picture of what your essay will address. It should include some background information on your problem and proposed solution.

Take these steps to create a perfect introduction:

Start with an attention-grabbing hook .
Provide some background information.
Narrow the scope of your discussion.
Identify your position.
Outline the framework of your essay.

Thesis Statement about Hope

A thesis statement is a short sentence that introduces your paper’s argument to the reader. Here’s how to write it:

Collect the evidence to back up your argument.
Think of the significance of the facts you have found.
Formulate your stance on the issue in one sentence.
Make adjustments as needed.

The thesis statement is usually the last sentence of your introduction. Look at an example of how it might look:

Although it is impossible to stop yourself from hoping, it can become problematic when that hope turns into a delusion.

Essay about Hope: Body Paragraphs

The essay’s body is where you thoroughly explore your point of view. Each body paragraph should have one main idea or argument supported by examples and evidence. The structure of your body paragraph should look the following way:

Topic sentence.
Supporting evidence.
The link to the next paragraph.

Check out an example of a body paragraph containing all these elements:

[Topic sentence] Hope is one of the most significant and strong feelings that a person can experience. [Supporting evidence] It propels us ahead in life, gives us hope for the future, and generally helps us feel better about ourselves and our lives. Furthermore, hope enables us to continue living despite the difficulties we face in life. [Transition] Yet, there can be too much of a good thing, as overreliance on hope can leave one disappointed and defeated.

Essays on Hope: Conclusion

A conclusion brings together the essential concepts covered in the essay’s body. It includes 4 main components:

Rephrased thesis statement.
Summary of key arguments.
The broader significance of the topic
Prediction, recommendations, or call to action.

Here’s how a rephrased thesis might look:

To sum up, it is acceptable to spend some time in hope but not to live in it. Instead, people must live in reality, which is the only way to achieve results.

We hope that our creative and catchy hope titles for essays have been inspirational for you! Besides, you can use our free online topic generator for more ideas!

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How Hope Can Keep You Happier and Healthier | Greater Good Magazine
What is Hope and Why Is It So Crucial to Our Faith? | Bible Study Tools
Philosophy of Hope | Springer Link
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Paragraph on hope – the essence of life – by silki.

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Introduction:

Hope is the essence of life. Many of us could not even live a life of peace without having hope deep inside the heart. Life is unpredictable, hard and quite notorious at times. Things go out of hand and beyond of our control many times. Hope helps us keep the fight on and improves the chances of making our life better. Hope – the essence of life keeps our eyes wide open for an improved future. I know it’s very hard keeping up with the inner faith during the most critical times, but, those who never leave hope, actually make it till the end.

Hope The Essence of Life:

No doubt life is a solid war zone. But it’s not too bad either. Try to keep your eyes full of dreams. Hope not only gives you the strength to overcome a pain, but it also makes the journey for the future easier. Let’s not worry about the fact that today is bad. Hope keeps us telling that tomorrow will be better than this. Hope is optimism. When I’m hopeful for anything, I’m thinking that sorrow and difficulty of today will soon end. Hope keeps us stay positive. As you know, our mind has lots of effects on our actions. If your mind tells you to stay strong on a path and not to lose courage, you will do so.

So, hope gives a positive mind power. It generates an aura around you which protects you from the negatives. This is why; hope will always be the essence of life.

How Hope Helps US:

Hope helps us to ignore the sufferings of the present. When we stay positive about our future, and feel that we have to fight to win the problems, our probability to succeed increases. It happens because we fight trying to stay mentally strong and give our best efforts. Hope is a belief. You believe something good will happen. The intensity of this feeling can really change your present and future. It’s said hope, which is also your belief, is a deep sense hidden in our subconscious mind. Remember that our subconscious mind is the most powerful thing on this earth. With its help, you can make an impossible possible, or win a war, for example.

A true hope or belief is unbreakable. There are many theories regarding the pure definition of hope. But you don’t have to confuse yourself with so many opinions. Just ask yourself – what you belief. If you believe to have something good in the future, and expect it to happen, that is hope. When you keep yourself telling that there will be no more pain and sufferings soon, you hope for it.

Conclusion:

As now you understand, the essence of hope is always very sweet. It’s an inspiration to live life the best way we can. So make your hope strong. Hope will give you the courage and inspiration to stick to your dream as long as you breathe. If you have a strong aspiration, hope and faith, nothing can bring you down. It lets you aim at the sole purpose of your life.

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Essay on God’s Importance In Life

Students are often asked to write an essay on God’s Importance In Life in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on God’s Importance In Life

Understanding god’s role.

Many people believe in a higher power known as God. They see God as a guide who helps them choose right from wrong. When life gets tough, thinking of God can give comfort and hope.

Learning Through Stories

Religious books are full of stories about God’s love and power. These tales teach kids about bravery, kindness, and honesty. They often look to these stories for lessons on how to live well.

Prayer and Strength

Praying to God is like talking to a friend. It can make you feel strong and calm. When you’re scared or sad, praying might bring peace and a sense of not being alone.

Belonging to a Community

Believing in God can connect you with others. Many gather in places like churches or temples to worship together. This can create a feeling of family and support among the people.

250 Words Essay on God’s Importance In Life

Many people believe in a higher power known as God. They see God as a guiding force in their lives. For those who believe, God is very important because He gives them hope and purpose. When they are scared or unsure, thinking of God can bring comfort and courage.

Learning Right from Wrong

God is often seen as a teacher of what is good and what is bad. Different religions have their own rules that God has given them. These rules help people decide how to act and treat others. With God’s teachings, they learn to be kind, honest, and fair.

Finding Strength in Tough Times

Life can be hard sometimes. When people face problems, they may pray to God for help. They believe God listens and gives them strength to get through tough times. This belief can make them feel less alone and more able to handle life’s challenges.

Bringing People Together

Belief in God can bring people together. In churches, temples, mosques, and other places of worship, people gather to pray and celebrate their faith. This creates a sense of community and belonging, which is very important in life.

Hope for the Future

Thinking about God can give people hope for the future. They believe that God has a plan for them and that everything will work out for the best. This hope can keep them going when things are difficult and can inspire them to work towards a better future.

500 Words Essay on God’s Importance In Life

Many people believe in a higher power known as God. They see God as a source of strength, guidance, and love. In this essay, we will explore why God plays a significant role in the lives of believers.

Comfort in Tough Times

Life can be hard. Sometimes, we face problems that seem too big for us to handle alone. This is where God comes in. For those who believe, God is like a friend who is always there to listen and help. When something bad happens, like losing a loved one or feeling very sad, believers find comfort in praying to God. They feel that God understands their pain and helps them through it.

Guidance for Right Choices

Every day, we make choices. Some are easy, and some are hard. Believers turn to God for help in making the right decisions. They may read holy books, like the Bible or the Quran, to learn what God teaches about living a good life. By following these teachings, they feel they can choose the path that will make them and the people around them happy.

Feeling Loved and Valued

Everyone wants to feel loved. Believers find this love in God. They think of God as a parent who loves them no matter what. This love gives them confidence. It makes them feel important and valued. When they know God loves them, they also learn to love themselves and others.

Thinking about the future can be scary. There are so many unknowns. But believers find hope in their faith in God. They trust that God has a plan for them and that everything will work out for the best. This hope helps them stay positive, even when things look uncertain.

Learning to Forgive

We all make mistakes, and sometimes we hurt others. God teaches about forgiveness. Believers try to follow this teaching by forgiving those who have wronged them. They also ask God to forgive their own mistakes. This helps them live without anger and bitterness.

Building a Community

Believing in God often brings people together. They gather to worship, celebrate, and help each other. This creates a community where people care for one another. In this community, they share their love for God and find friends who support them in their beliefs.

In conclusion, God holds an important place in the lives of those who believe. God offers comfort, guidance, love, hope, and a sense of community. These things help believers lead a fulfilling life. Whether it’s finding strength in tough times, making the right choices, feeling valued, looking forward to the future, learning to forgive, or being part of a community, God’s role is central to many people’s lives. While not everyone believes in God, for those who do, God’s importance in life is clear and deeply felt.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

Essay on Goals For The Future
Essay on Goals Are Good For You
Essay on Goals And Aspirations

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

Incurable but not hopeless: How hope shapes patients’ awareness of their advanced cancer prognosis

Assistant Professor, Departments of Medicine and Oncology, Queen's University, Ontario

Professor Emeritus of Oncology and Public Health Sciences, Queen's University, Ontario

Disclosure statement

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Queen's University, Ontario provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA.

Queen's University, Ontario provides funding as a member of The Conversation CA-FR.

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Hope is defined as the expectation of achieving a future good. Patients with cancer, whether it is curable or not, prioritize cure as their highest hope .

Patients with incurable cancer wish to be informed about their disease and its treatment, but also need to maintain hope. This inner conflict can impact how they process information about their prognosis.

Prognostic awareness

Physicians are ethically obligated to inform patients about their prognosis so that patients can make cancer treatment decisions that are consistent with their values. When oncologists talk to patients about prognosis , they tend to talk about the extent of the disease (localized or metastatic), the goal of the treatment (curative or palliative) and the estimated survival (short months or many years).

Communication about prognosis can be challenging due to physician factors such as skill in discussing bad news, and patient factors such as denial. Some patients with incurable cancer, who are aware of their prognosis but haven’t accepted it, will say the treatment goal is cure .

A younger woman hugging a seated older woman from behind

Previous research indicates that less than half of patients with incurable cancer are aware of their prognosis. This is often attributed to a failure of communication.

But are patients truly unaware, or are they aware and not accepting of their prognosis? If inaccurate prognostic awareness is due to denial in spite of adequate communication from the oncologist, then interventions to improve communication may be ineffective, misguided or even harmful .

Patients with incurable cancer are more likely to receive end-of-life care concordant with their preferences when they have accurate prognostic awareness. Inaccurate prognostic awareness can lead to conflicting treatment decision-making between patients and oncologists, delayed referral to palliative care and more aggressive care at the end of life.

In a study of patients with advanced lung cancer, those who received early palliative care and had accurate prognostic awareness were more likely not to choose intravenous chemotherapy in the last two months of life , which would have been futile and worsened the quality of their end-of-life care.

How prognostic awareness is measured

Measuring prognostic awareness in patients is challenging because their responses may reflect their hopes rather than their true beliefs. In a recent publication in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute , our research team synthesized data from 52 studies measuring prognostic awareness in patients with advanced cancer.

In the majority of studies, prognostic awareness was conceptualized as a binary entity: patients were asked if their cancer was curable, and their responses were coded as either accurate prognostic awareness (patients knew their cancer was incurable and responded that it was incurable) or inaccurate prognostic awareness (they thought it was curable and responded that it was curable).

A few studies included in our review improved upon the binary conceptualization by incorporating hope in the assessment of prognostic awareness.

These studies asked patients about their belief and their doctor’s belief about prognosis and found that about a third of patients will hold onto hope for a cure (responding that they believe their cancer is curable), even when acknowledging that their doctors were treating them with palliative intent. This discordance was attributed to poor coping.

The role of hope

Hope is a recognized coping strategy in patients with cancer. However, “false” hope may have detrimental effects. Patients may refuse to believe their prognosis and demand aggressive treatments that may cause more harm than benefit.

In the context of advanced cancer, the relationship between hope and hopelessness is balanced by acceptance, which can re-direct hope to new goals beyond cure , such as hope for connection with others and enjoyment of daily pleasures.

Nurturing hope among patients with cancer and their caregivers is possible and includes coping strategies focusing on what can be done (such as control of symptoms) and exploring realistic goals such as dignity and intimacy. Family and spirituality play an important role in supporting patient hope.

Incorporating patient hope into prognostic awareness

We improved upon the binary conceptualization of measuring prognostic awareness by incorporating patient hope, creating a trinary concept : patients who are aware and accepting of their prognosis; aware and not accepting; or truly unaware.

We propose that patients who are aware and accepting should be offered psychological supports to address any negative effects on mood; those who are aware and not accepting should be offered adaptive coping strategies to support their evolving prognostic awareness; and those who are truly unaware will benefit from interventions such as decision-aids and communication training. Early palliative care consultation may be beneficial at each stage of prognostic awareness.

This trinary conceptualization may guide future research to improve our understanding of the impact of hope in the setting of serious illness and help patients receive the right supports in their cancer journey.

End-of-life care
Palliative care
Terminal illness
Cancer treatment
Cancer care
Doctor-patient communication

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The Meaning of Hope and Its Role in Our Life
Hope is a very important human feeling. Without hope, morale would be low everywhere. People would just give up and live unhappy lives. Imagine living a hopeless life. Imagine the sorrow you would feel every day. Hope is what keeps life from growing miserable. Think of the worst situations you could be in throughout human history.
Why You Need Hope In Your Life
According to 20 years of scientific research conducted by positive psychology founder Martin Seligman, hope reduces feelings of helplessness, boosts happiness, reduces stress, and improves the quality of life []Hopeful people can face even the worst times with a positive attitude.That's why hope is one of the most important personality qualities, along with being spiritual.
Essays About Hope: Top 5 Examples Plus 5 Prompts
5 Top Essay Examples. 1. A Reflection of Hope by Shannon Cohen. "Hope is a fighter. Hope may flicker or falter but doesn't quit. Hope reminds us that we are Teflon tough, able to withstand the dings, scratches, and burns of life. Hope is the quintessential "hype-man.".
Why Hope Matters
Hope Comes With the Possibility of Something Better. Hope implies that there is the possibility of a better future, according to the famed hope researcher C.R. Snyder. It shows up at the worst ...
Why Is Hope Important? (14 Reasons)
This is where hope steps in, bridging that gap with enthusiasm and confidence. Hope acts as a catalyst: Inspiration: It sparks creativity and a desire to pursue new ideas. Motivation: It drives us to start and follow through on our goals. Determination: It helps us push against obstacles and not give in to defeat.
7 Reasons Why Finding Hope For The Future Is So Important
6. Hope brings inner peace. As with negative thoughts, hope can help ease negative feelings too. Hope is the opposite of despair. Whereas despair creates a breeding ground for self-loathing, inaction, and depression, hope allows joy, enthusiasm, and a quiet contentment to grow.
Essay on Hope
Hope is the greatest source of survival and way towards achieving greater purpose and success in life. The following essay on hope focuses on meaning, purpose and importance of hope in our life. This short & long essay is quite helpful for children and students in their school exam preparation etc.
How Hope Can Keep You Happier and Healthier
Researchers examined the impact of hope on nearly 13,000 people with an average age of 66. They found those with more hope throughout their lives had better physical health, better health behaviors, better social support and a longer life. Hope also led to fewer chronic health problems, less depression, less anxiety and a lower risk of cancer.
Hope Psychology: What Are The Benefits of Hope?
Examples of hope. Hope theory trains you to unlock hope in all life areas, including exceptional and mundane situations. Example 1. John is severely depressed and has been in bed for three days ...
The Role of Hope in Our Lives
Here is the first. Myth #1: Hope is purely positive. Fact: Hope is the only positive emotion that needs negativity or uncertainty. Hope requires negativity or uncertainty to flourish. It is the obstacles, the setbacks, the disappointments that hold the emotional nutrients for growth. The history of psychology has taught us much about ...
Why is hope important?
Hope can be a desire for something to happen, a wish for things to change for the better or a particular dream or aspiration. It is important for us to have hope in our lives, important for us to look positively into our future and is a major protective factor in helping us tackle potentially dangerous ideation or intrusive thoughts.
Essay on Hope: A Beacon in the Human Experience
Importance of hope in human life. Hope holds immense significance in human life as a guiding light through the darkest times and as a beacon of optimism amidst adversity. Various dimensions help us understand its importance. Mental Well-being: Hope plays a crucial role in maintaining mental health.
Why Is Hope Important? Here Are 10 Important Reasons!
to cherish a desire with anticipation: to want something to happen or be true. to expect with confidence : TRUST. Noun. desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment. someone or something on which hopes are centered. Hope is a positive belief and emotion. It brings peace because there is trust.
Essay on Hope
Introduction. Hope is a powerful and transformative human emotion, a beacon of light that pierces the darkness of despair and uncertainty. It is often described as the expectation of a positive outcome or the belief in a better future, irrespective of the current circumstances. It is this feeling of anticipation and trust that fuels our ...
What Is So Important About Christian Hope?
In other words, hope is the birthplace of Christian self-sacrificing love. That's because we just let God take care of us and aren't preoccupied with having to work to take care of ourselves. We say, "Lord, I just want to be there for other people tomorrow, because you're going to be there for me." If we don't have the hope that Christ is for ...
'Hope is a n embrace of the unknown
Hope is a gift you don't have to surrender, a power you don't have to throw away. And though hope can be an act of defiance, defiance isn't enough reason to hope. But there are good reasons.
187 Hope Essay Topics: Ideas for Definition Essays, Literature Papers
Hope Is the Thing with Feathers Essay: Topic Ideas. "Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers as a hymn of praise to hope. The power of hope as a key idea in the poem. "Hope" Is the Thing with Feathers: critical features of the poetic tone. The metaphor of hope in Emily Dickinson's poem.
The Importance Of Hope In Life
The Importance Of Hope In Life. 1232 Words5 Pages. When life is going smoothly and we 're getting our needs met, it 's easy to feel and be hopeful and optimistic. Hope, love, faith, optimism are all "easy" when life is "easy." The key is to find and sustain hope when life is presenting us with challenges, difficulties and obstacles.
Essay On Importance Of Hope In Our Life
Hope gives us the strength we need to overcome all the sadness in our lives. Whenever we are having a bad day, hope comes in to remind us that the next day will improve. Hope has a positive effect in our lives. It is what gives us the will to live on for a better future. By definition, hope means that we are anticipating or wanting a certain ...
Paragraph on Hope
Paragraph on Hope - The Essence of Life - by Silki. Hope is the essence of life. Many of us could not even live a life of peace without having hope deep inside the heart. Life is unpredictable, hard and quite notorious at times. Things go out of hand and beyond of our control many times. Hope helps us keep the fight on and improves the ...
The Importance Of Hope By Martin Luther King Jr.
The Importance Of Hope By Martin Luther King Jr. One day, Martin Luther King Jr. Says "Everything that is done in the world is done by hope" because without hope you can done anything and you will feel left out or like a loser. I believe in hope because it is the key factor of a good achievement that lead to a successful path in the future.
Essay on God's Importance In Life
Understanding God's Role. Many people believe in a higher power known as God. They see God as a guiding force in their lives. For those who believe, God is very important because He gives them hope and purpose. When they are scared or unsure, thinking of God can bring comfort and courage.
Incurable but not hopeless: How hope shapes patients' awareness of
X (Twitter) Hope is defined as the expectation of achieving a future good. Patients with cancer, whether it is curable or not, prioritize cure as their highest hope. Patients with incurable cancer ...
Opinion
How the SAT Changed My Life. Ms. Nietfeld is the author of the memoir "Acceptance.". This month, the University of Texas, Austin, joined the wave of selective schools reversing Covid-era test ...
Opinion
Mr. Beinart is the editor at large of Jewish Currents and a journalist and writer who has written extensively on the Middle East, Jewish life and American foreign policy. March 22, 2024. F or the ...

The Meaning of Hope and Its Role in Our Life

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Essays About Hope: Top 5 Examples Plus 5 Prompts

5 Top Essay Examples

1. What Is Hope?

5. ​​ Hope and Reality by Greg Arnold

5 Prompts for Essays About Hope

Why Hope Matters

Why Is Hope Important? (14 Reasons)

Hope Motivates Us to Take Action Toward Positive Change

Hope Fuels Resilience and Perseverance

Hope Enhances Our Sense of Purpose

Hope Supports Us in Trusting What We Cannot See

Hope Strengthens Our Mental Health

Hope Enables Us to Endure Life’s Challenges

Hope Encourages Personal Growth and Development

Hope Improves Our Quality of Life

Hope Underpins the Development of Faith

Hope Fosters Happiness and a Sense of Well-Being

Hope Inspires Us to Dream and Envision a Better Future

Hope Acts as a Catalyst for Embracing Life’s Potential

Hope Reduces Stress in Our Lives

Hope Helps Us to Envision and Work Towards Fulfilling Aspirations

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I help someone who has lost hope?

Final Thoughts

7 Reasons Why Finding Hope For The Future Is So Important

What Is Hope?

What Hope Is Not

Why Is Hope So Important?

1. Hope is a healer.

2. Hope shows us how to act.

3. Hope is a motivator.

4. Hope encourages self-belief.

5. Hope combats negative thoughts.

6. Hope brings inner peace.

7. Hope is contagious.

How To Find Hope For The Future

1. Recognize your power.

2. Ask what positive actions you can take.

3. Connect with people who have faced similar circumstances.

4. Lean on those closest to you.

5. Speak to a professional.

6. Work on your self-esteem and self-worth.

7. Don’t expect answers to all of the questions.

8. Be a source of hope for others.

9. Rejoice in the little things that make life worth living.

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Essay on Hope | Meaning, Purpose, Importance of Hope In Life

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