4 Aspects of HOPE

Learn to live with HOPE every day.

HOPE Full Energy

In a previous blog, 3 Requirements for Liberty, I discussed the true requirements as being justice, PEACE and HOPE. In the last two blogs, we dove deeper into one possibility to ensure justice for all and the steps to practice peace and promote world PEACE. This blog focuses on the four aspects of living with HOPE every day.

HOPE

Years ago, I read that people with dangerous jobs, such as professional firefighters running into burning buildings, who were the most successful and happy had a common attribute - a sense of hope.

Imagine your life if you spent every day worrying about all the worst-case scenarios that could happen, not just a quick thought for planning purposes, but consistently focused on the negative possibilities. You would be exhausted from the energy drain. Now imagine your life if you spent every day focused on the best-case scenarios that could happen. Your thoughts would spark your energy to take a step in the direction of that best-case scenario. HOPE sustains that momentum. My self-defining acronym HOPE describes the energetic state we should live from every day:

• Habitually

• Optimistic

• Purposeful

• Energy 

This third requirement for liberty provides the energy needed to move forward with the other two requirements - ensuring justice for all and promoting peace. Let’s dive deeper into ways to live HOPE fully.

Habitually

Create habits to consciously focus your attention on what you want to happen. To effectively build habits, use the following ideas:

• Pick a time to perform the activity that is associated with something you already do, such as stating your positive purposeful intentions during your shower.

• Make it easy to do. Instead of trying to start a meditation practice by sitting for an hour, try centering for a few minutes every time you shift activities or before each meal. 

• Reward yourself for completing each step. This could be as simple as checking off your to-do list, taking a moment to congratulate yourself and recognize your accomplishment, or treating yourself with a self-care reward.

Specifically work on creating habits that include optimism and purposeful action. Set intentional affirmations for your best and highest good and the good of all, and revisit them throughout the day for an energetic boost. 

Habitually collaborate and communicate effectively to ensure the best relationships you can create and maintain in your personal and professional life. Remember your interdependence with all and habitually send love to all.

Create rejuvenating nourishing rituals to give yourself everything you need to thrive and to contribute your best to the world, and to reward yourself for creating effective habits and accomplishing your optimistic, purposeful actions.

Optimistic

Optimism is not about denying reality. Optimism is actively choosing to determine the best case scenario and focusing on taking steps in that direction. You don’t ignore the worst case scenarios. Review them enough to be prepared, but don’t spend all your time and energy worrying about them.

The human body does not distinguish between what is actually happening and what you imagine is happening. When you imagine something fearful, your body will start a physical reaction as though it were happening in real time. Your body will experience the event as though it already happened, even though it may never happen in real life. 

Think about something from your past that was negative, and you’ll feel all the physical and emotional reactions to your thoughts. Now shift to something from your past that was positive, and you’ll feel all the physical and emotional reactions to your thoughts.

Another example is how you respond to movies. You tense up during stressful or suspenseful scenes. You tear up during sad scenes. You feel empathy and other emotions toward those fictional characters. And your body literally reacts with your thoughts and emotions with your heart racing, your tears falling, or even jumping at the suspenseful result.

Wouldn’t you rather feel good as a result of your thoughts? It doesn’t take any more energy to imagine the best case scenario, so you can instead experience the physical response of the best case scenario instead of the worst case. You’ll feel much better and have a lot more energy left to face anything else that may actually happen in the future. Even if the worst happens, you’ll only experience it once, instead of twice by worrying about it too.

Maintain an optimistic outlook in every situation. It helps you to remain calm and think more clearly, so that you can respond in the best possible way to anything that does occur.

Purposeful

In addition to shifting toward more optimistic choices to focus on, aligning those choices with your vision and values will enable you to direct your actions toward fulfilling your life purpose. 

No matter what your specific occupation and whether or not you are a parent, you probably also value liberty and justice for all and want to promote world peace. By consciously aligning your specific vision and values, you can do your part to promote justice and peace in your family, your community, and at work. Then feel its effect ripple in ever expanding circles.

Be as intentional as possible in aligning all your decisions and choices purposefully. You’ll feel the satisfaction of moving each step closer and in maintaining the parts that you have already achieved.

Energy

Your life experience is based on your energy - your level of vibration and how much energy you have to use. Maintaining your energetic vibration at an expansive level of love, joy, peace and hope expands your energetic capacity and refills your energy. Focusing on anger, fear, grief and shame diminishes your energetic capacity and drains your energy. 

When your energy decreases due to negative stress or your reaction to a situation, know that you can choose to shift your attention and your energy back to a healthier, more purposeful vibration. Using tools for gratitude, forgiveness and acceptance will help you shift your energy back in the right direction. 

You can also expand your energetic capacity and refill your energy level by taking good care of yourself physically, emotionally and mentally.

When you notice your energy starting to sag, assess your needs. Are you getting enough sleep, and appropriate nourishment and movement? Are you feeling lower energy emotions like fear or sadness? Is your mind on a loop worrying about an upcoming event? Be gentle with yourself and give yourself whatever you need to restore your energy levels and to shift back toward higher energetic vibrations.

Do your best to live each day with Habitually Optimistic Purposeful Energy to enjoy your rights to liberty, justice and peace, and to promote world PEACE and liberty and justice for all.