“Even in the face of the severe crisis confronting humanity today, I cannot side with the advocates of apocalypse. Rather than the spurs and promptings of fear, we can best negotiate the challenges we face when guided by a vision of hope.” (Quote by Daisaku Ikeda)

Introduction

Hope is when something tells us, we are going to make it big. Hope is when we are willing to bet on ourselves against all odds. Hope is when we believe in a higher power that takes care of us, now, then, and forever. Hope is powerful, and magnificent.

But one of the sadder truths about hope is that it can get impossible to find when we need it the most. In challenging times, when we lie beaten by life and its lessons, we push and push to grab onto that tiny ray of light (or hope), because we believe that it will help sail us through. This is probably what makes hope an emissary of victory. Its sheer presence enables the vanquished to move mountains.

Significance

One of the greatest advantages of learning to stay hopeful in the darkest of times is that it enables you to create a way for yourself out of any and every challenge that might come your way. It enables you to defend yourself against all obstacles that life may throw at you, and lets you keep an open mind towards rare opportunities. When you have hope that you’re going to make it through no matter what, you stop dwelling on the problem, and instead start focusing on the many solutions available at hand. You don’t allow yourself to crumble in the face of misery, and instead, you stand tall and brave, patient and ready. You begin to realize that things are eventually going to get better, and when they do, you’ve got to be prepared.

Cultivation

So how do we stay hopeful?

This should be a good time to introduce the concept of faith. It’s imperative to understand that hope and faith go hand in hand. One bolsters the other, and to quite a significant degree. When we show faith, be it in ourselves, or some other person, or a higher being, we subconsciously  make way for hope to do its thing. It is as Louise Hay noted: “The universe has been taking care of you since the day you were born. What makes you think it’ll stop now?”

In short, faith gives hope. But what gives faith? That should be the power of belief. This deserves an explanation.

It only makes sense to work towards building a mindset that allows you to let go of that which you cannot control, and at the same time, motivates you to leave no stone unturned for achieving your dream. Cultivating such a mindset helps you set boundaries for your worries. As you learn to disconnect when the situation demands, you start believing that things will eventually fall in place, and now that you’ve already given it your best shot, there’s nothing more you can do. The transition from one belief to the other is automatic and does not require much effort. However, building that mindset is the real deal.

Resources

Coming soon!

End Note

It’s never easy to find hope when everything is going south, let alone summoning it at will. But every time you tell yourself that “in the end, it will all work out for good”, you take a step closer towards building the aforementioned mindset. Irrespective of how difficult it may seem in the beginning, you must resist the urge to give in to despair. There is nothing stronger than hope in this world. No force can stop a hopeful man, for his fears can never be manipulated. And none of this happens overnight. When you ask God to give you hope, He gives it to you. He has already given it to you. But He also gives you the opportunity to use this formidable weapon. Now the responsibility of learning to use it lies with you and you alone. The more you use it, the better you become at commanding it. And so the circle becomes complete.

PS. If you wish to become an accomplished human being, equipped with the right values and ethics, you should work on cultivating hope as a virtue. It is one of the nine most important virtues of all times for promoting self development and growth.