On this week’s podcast, I want to discuss hope, and what can happen when you get to know your hope a little better.

When we’re presented with difficult or uncomfortable transitions, hope gives us the ability to imagine, think, and move forward into the unknown. Having hope is transformative – but hope, unfortunately, can be blocked. Blocked hope gives us the feeling of hopelessness.

Some things that grow in the wide open space of hopelessness are:

• Fear: an overwhelming, deer in the headlights feeling when you think about your current situation.
• Optimism: the part of you that blindly insists, over and over, everything will be okay.
• Cynicism: the part of you that won’t let you trust in others, or believe that good times can come back.
• Exhaustion: when you find yourself thinking, “I just don’t care anymore.”

A part of us holds hope in difficult times. Sometimes that part becomes blocked by other parts of us holding strong feelings, thoughts, and emotions. Having or not having hope affects us in our lives, and sometimes it takes a healthy dose of courage to identify and acknowledge our hopes.  

When the environment around us is extreme, we often find ourselves responding by becoming more extreme in different parts of ourselves. We all have different clusters of parts that get triggered during difficult times.

What blocks your hope? Do you have the courage to tell yourself what you are hoping for?  Once you can see the gap in the space between your reality and your hopeful place, you can start drawing a map of how to get there.

Image Credit

“HOPE” by Flickr user david pacey is licensed under CC BY 2.0.