Hope is one of those funny words. On the surface, it sounds good. Up with hope, right? Meanwhile, there is a downside in that people can hope for bad things to happen to others. This is not a good thing, but our world is imperfect.
Beyond all this, hope often seems hollow. Hoping for something isn’t really doing anything. It is like closing our eyes tightly and, hoping beyond all hope, when we open them, all will be better. How often does that work?
Hope just seems like giving up. Placing whatever happens in the hands of others… seen or unseen.
There is a kernel inside of hope that is inspiring though. Hope delivers an outlook that things can get better and be better. Hope inspires change. It drives aspirations as well.
To make hope come alive, it takes a connection. This what makes hope real.
By connection, I mean:
- Hope becomes real when a people join in to lift up a cause or desire.
- Hope becomes real when we take positive action to change our direction, habits, or intentions.
- Hope becomes real when we modify our thoughts to embrace a new enabling paradigm.
- Hope becomes real when communities come together to make positive changes happen.
Hope thrives, and survives, on connections to actions and between people.
I realize we cannot control everything or make all things happen. I know this where hope comes in – placing our trust in something or somebody to intervene and make our wish come true. This is one side of hope.
The other side of hope is when we can do something. We can affect hope, enabling wishes and taking actions to move things in a positive direction. This is where we can, and should, play a key role in delivering hope to our families, workplaces, and communities.
Today, we have more ability to reach across boundaries and set hope in motion. This is one of the reasons why I believe HopeMob is a worthy Kickstarter initiative. In HopeMob’s words, it is –
“…exactly what it sounds like – a mob of people bringing hope. Just as Flash Mobs dance and bring spontaneous joy and laughter, HopeMob will bring caring strangers together to create sudden, yet organized relief and hope…
If Mother Teresa built a platform with the tech base of Groupon, Foursquare, & Netflix & the heart of CNN Heroes, it would look like HopeMob!”
In my words, HopeMob is about connecting our social media world with our real world, delivering hope to real stories about real people in real neighborhoods.
Hope is about connections. Connections make hope real.
Are we making hope real enough today?
Great post Jon. Hope is a beautiful thing, when actions is added to it a new reality is created.
Agree completely, Bruno! Thanks!
Jon, I once let others convince me that hope was a passive way of making things better. I believed it, for a short time. I realized that hope can also be a trigger, or a starting point to action. You point this out and expand on this thinking with an ever important truth: we can’t make things happen in this world alone.
We can have hope. We need hope. Hope sometimes is all we have in those times when it’s dark and doubt tugs heavily on our thoughts and guides our actions.
Shawn, Excellent points… Unintentionally, some times, people just make statements about “hope” because they don’t know what to do. The “trigger” aspect is needed to make hope work for us and our communities. Very essential. Thanks, Shawn, for adding to the conversation. Jon
Jon,
Mmmm….I love that you have highlighted this concept of “action” to go along with “hope”. Such a great point – hope can feel hollow sometimes (I know). Yet, when we create some action to go along with it, pretty wonderful things can happen!
Today, my intention is to bring more action to the hopes that I have. Thanks Jon!!
I agree, Lance. Hope, standalone, is lonely. With some sort of action or connection point, hope comes alive. Thanks so much for your comment! Jon
Great post Jon!
You said it all so well 🙂 I guess we all live on hope and that is what keeps us going from one day to the other. If we lose hope we lose everything. Hope makes us live for a new day, a new reason, a new beginning, a new desire. There is nothing without hope.
Thanks for a wonderful reminder 🙂
Thanks for your comments, Harleena! It is about activating hope… Thanks!
Fantastic post, Jon!
I used to be fond of saying “I hope you have a great day”, and I decided this was, perhaps, an empty sentiment which I have changed to saying “have a great day”, or “have a grateful day”.
In my life, hope is powerful when I feel lost and hope is what kept me going at difficult times in my life. But hope must be more than a belief or desire, hope must lead us to action to experience the positive results we hope for.
I’m excited to learn more about HopeMob, thank you for sharing a little about it.
Have a grateful day!
Chrysta
Thanks, Chrysta! I agree on the “hope you have a great day.” I have thought the same thing… we need to be more affirmative and just state “have a great day!”
There is something to hope that keeps us going though, and a key part of it may be connection. Anyway, check out HopeMob… I am excited about what they are wanting to do.
Thanks!