7 Tips for LIFE and Living with Hope

Got HOPE?  

Thomas Edison had it. Abraham Lincoln had it.  Rosa Parks had it.  Moses had it. Harriet Tubman had it.  Martin Luther King SURE had it.  Peter and John had it as they ran to the tomb ……

It was HOPE.

All of us have lived with great hope for the future, for our job, for our families, for our country, and for our lives.  Hope is a natural attribute instilled at conception.   I say natural because it is how 99% of all children operate when young – playful, happy, forgiving, and hopeful!  

We hope friends will play with us, we hope we get good food, we hope our dad (parents) come home and play with us, we hope others will like us and our toys, we hope Santa is real and brings us something on our list.

Hope is waiting for all that’s right to happen, and believing it can and will! Hope is anticipation of good and great things to come.

But……even in our greatest moments of hope, negative influences can instantly set in. we can be exposed to fear.

 “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”  - Yoda  (my favorite short green philosopher)

Fear.  The worst four letter “F” word ever.  It dispels hope in a single moment.  It erases all the things we had on our hope list.  It takes away joy instantaneously. It literally makes us sick and we look for a way out, we look for someone to take away the fear…..we enter the drama cycle with every fiber of our being.

I DISPISE FEAR.  There is not a worse word or feeling in the world than fear.  

Fear Erases All Right.

When we become fearful of the future, of what’s happening at work, in our family, in our country, or in our lives, we lose all hope.

So how do we stay out of fear and live with hope?  What gives us the motivation to look beyond the fearful moments and into the future with hope when we are dealing with negative influences in our lives? We may be told we have a life threatening disease, or that terrorists are going to attack our city, a loved one is going to die, that our home has been destroyed, or our job is ending.  What gives us the right - and just how do we attain HOPE in the darkest of circumstances?

Let me share a few tips to living and giving hope in fearful times. 

Before I move forward, let me share that I have been in situations where hope seemed the last thing I’d have, but hope is was helped me through the darkest of times.  

I laid in bed as a single mother with five children snuggling with me to stay warm as I had no money for gas to heat our home, I have lived with so little food my body was practically skin and bones, years ago I experienced betrayal and theft of 40k in the work place, another time my life was threatened by a crazy man with an axe (that was exciting – my mother still does not know…don’t tell her!), and twice in my life I fell to my knees not knowing if I could go on.  

Was life really worth it?

Then, that still small voice reminded me of all that was possible, all that was worth living for, and I regained my ever present HOPE.  

My mind reflected on a verse etched not only at the bottom of a picture my mother has, but on my heart from Jerimiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,' saith the LORD …. to give you a future and a hope.”

Tip one: Move forward.It’s what we do as humans, as parents, as spouses, as friends. These experiences shall be but a moment. It may seem as the end has come, but look at the earth, our city, and our lives from a bird’s eye view.  Moving forward is all we can do.  

Tip Two: Never Doubt Your Efforts.  Just as storybook endings often have someone save the day, look to live with no doubt until the last breath you take.  Maintain hope.  The men who sailed the seas did not doubt.  They fought each wave with vigor, and even though thousands lost their lives at sea, they lived with hope they’d come home, and never doubted their efforts. They fought a good fight.  Never doubt the strength or what comes from within.

Tip Three: Hang With The Hopefuls! My favorite line from LIVE came through inspiration: Cancer is not just inside of you, it is sitting next to you.  Those around you affect you and every cell within your body. It’s a quantum physics thing. If you surround yourself with those who have doubt, fear, frustration, anger, and hate, then you will live with fear, doubt, frustration, anger, and hate.  Find those you can talk with that are happy, that look to the future, and those who live with hope. Avoid the negative people in your lives.

Tip Four: If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear. This is a spiritual tip as well as a physical one.   If you realize you are energy, and part of a world that shifts energy forms, you understand you are going to shift and change, AKA die.  That’s ok! LOVE the life you have lived, LOVE those who surround you, LOVE the adventure you have lived and the one you will be going on! I believe in Christ, and believe with all my heart that I will see my relatives who are deceased and my Savior when my last breath is taken. How fun is that!?  Based on all I have witnessed and learned, I believe we can always be with family weather alive or in spirit.  And physically, be prepared for the unknown. We can’t put our head in the sand and ignore what is happening around us.  Have a preparedness plan in place to sustain your family and others.  Have a meeting place for your family to meet if there is a disaster.  Have food, heat, water, and a plan.  If you do not have a plan, contact a Therapeutic Nutritional Counselor TNC and they will help you!  They have all the materials I have ever written about emergency preparedness. Just email us and well get you hooked up!

Tip Five: Forgive.  Do not live with hatred, or anger towards another person. Forgive the illness, the offender, the ones who have made mistakes, those who purposely caused you harm, or forgive yourself for getting yourself into a situation.  Pure hope cannot exist where there is hate or anger. Hope will help you forgive. Review the DRAMA cycle here.

Tip Six: Have A Hope List.  Remember hope chests from days gone by?  Those special chests were started at a young age as women prepared to have their own home and family.  They were exciting to have in the home, and it was with hope for the future things were added to it.  Today, create a list of things you are hopeful of and post it.  Some call this a vision board.  I don’t care what you call it, just do it! Have VISION and HOPE for the future! Look at your list daily! 

Tip Seven: JUST DO IT!  LIVE with HOPE!  Even though those around you may think you are nuts, HOPE until your last breath. Hope for a bright future for your children and your grandchildren, HOPE for peace in a world full of despair, HOPE you get good food, HOPE your dad (parents) come home and play with you, HOPE others will like you and your toys, and HOPE Santa is real and brings you something on your list… 

REMEMBER: Hope is waiting for all that’s right to happen, and believing it can and will! Hope is anticipation of good and great things to come.

I wish each of you a wonderful bright Christmas this year. Yes, I know of the terrorist threats against our country this Christmas Season, those threats against our health, and against our families, but I choose to live with HOPE and not fear.   I wish you the strength to do so yourselves, and for you to enjoy each moment of Christmas you can! 

Fear Erases All Right – and although there may be reasons to fear, giving into that fear will weaken us, and the weak are always devoured.  As organic and tasty as I may be to the devourer – I’m not going to live in fear, but with HOPE!

Never give up the one thing that makes life worth living: HOPE