Hope — not so dumb after all
What if we proactively cultivate hope and optimism?
The purpose of this article is to question yourself, whether you limit yourself and others from life-worthy experiences and unimaginable development by not allowing hope and optimism to fuel the path outside the box. Is hope useful? It helpful to consciously stay open for the unknown?
Hope and optimism can be limiting by themselves: Waiting for something to happen without taking responsibility for yourself is like handing your power to a higher force, without realizing that you are part of the enterprise life.
You can divide hope and optimism into two different possibilities: some hope that doesn’t inspire change and makes you stay passive relying on wishful thinking without taking action. And hope that inspires change, that can make you become active, realistic, and drives you to take meaningful steps — not like a strategy and a masterplan, but rather when you intuitively feel time is right for a next step.
It can be helpful to distinguish between hope and faith: E.g. hope you can defined as the belief in positive outcomes despite challenges, while faith can be trust in something greater, whether in oneself, others, or the divine. In this context I refer to change-inspiring hope rather than faith, simply because faith is burdened with a religious background and that is a different conversation. In this context the power behind nature is not necessarily related to religious belief systems, book or dogmata. Here, you are part of that power and the invitation is to co-create by learning to listen to inspirations without trying to control the process of life: Above way of “applied” hope does not necessarily focus on a pre-defined specific desired outcome and includes possibilities outside the personally imaginable. Realistically, possibilities you can’t even imagine exist! Many times, positive surprises have been experienced, just by sticking to the optimism and engaging in tiny little loving daily habits that fuel the energy of positive change and staying tuned in a loving, open-minded vibration …
The Story
It’s frustrating, shocking, horrifying, unbelievable what happens in the world. War, hunger, injustice, imbalances how resources are distributed.
How do we deal with that? What’s your strategy?
Remembering the second trip to India. There was an invitation to volunteer in a children’s foster home. On the way — 400km by train- kids were living on the train begging for food. A dead man was lying next to the rails in the middle of nowhere.
Coming from a consumerism country, the heart and mind were going wild. The injustice, the ignorance, our modern, rich, apparently sophisticated world’s unconscious habits of sticking to what you are being sold as desirable without looking outside the box or even realizing that you have a box.
How can we change? What can be done? In 2 decades of life-coaching and facing a bunch of interesting experiences, the learning-by-doing conclusion was: I cannot change the world. I can only change myself. And it’s going to be a life-long process — by nature. We all read that “you can only change yourself” or “Be the change you want to see in the world!” somewhere and still, it’s a different story, when the experimenting is done by oneself versus taking on others ideas as true, just because they seem logical.
That day in India, I figured, it can start with small stuff: produce less waist, stop engaging in mindless consumerism, learn to meditate and practice regularly, distinguish and experiment with new choices /activities. Be more present. Engage in meaningful encounters -even with strangers on the street- not as a new strategy to get something out of it, simply because it is human, loving, heart-based. In fact, that used to be a habit before, but now, I became more aware and grateful, that those little talks with “co-earthlings” are meaningful and not a waste of time. The gipsy lady and her daughters and grand-kids around the corner in La Longa, the leg-less guy who sits there begging since 10 years on his spot on JaumeIII, the virtuous Flamenco guitarist who tells where to stand in front of him, so that the police won’t catch him basking. When we first met, he was a heroin addict. He still looks quite unhealthy but heck did he change. He is still not the most optimistic man on earth, but now, he got a sprinkle in his eyes and if feels like a blessing to see him alive enjoying his music and making people enjoy his music. And after all those years passing by and sharing some heart-felt words, today, we are friends and never miss a big hug opportunity.
Today, a I collect some past experiences as stories online as a reference for the unimaginable. At times, I feel fear sharing those experiences. I have been “told off”: People seem to interpret “you just want to look good and get life-coaching clients. My intention is not to attain a Mother Teresa image but, share some stories as examples for the existence of the unimaginable. The purpose of those web collections is to inspire to go for what you don’t really know is possible and following your guts, sticking to your heart. Translated into music my stories resume to something like: “ the moment that mind slows down, there is this sense of calm, ease and peace — love is all there is”… and you feel it.
Despite the odds, it is an experiment to be continued in daily life: exploring those non-harming fears that scare the shit out of you even though it’s rather impossible to die from them.
The experiment life continues.
The purpose is to make the best out of what is, use our talents, never lose hope — or in music language “and I never ever give up, cause that’s my gift-so much love, so much life to life…” and actively engage in accepting those natural growths changes that life offers within oneself — mindset, habitual thinking, feeling and acting, the way the things are done, beyond good and bad, questioning the intention — love or fear- and so on.
And neither last nor least: high-level fun is a gift to enjoy: It’s a hands-on experiment, not just a philosophical one. It’s feelings and emotions that makef juicy energy moving. The idea that hope makes passive is merely an idea, an opinion or a decision: ultimately, we do have a choice what to do with or without hope.
My experience is: when I lose hope, optimism, vision, the energy to go for outside-the-box possibilities and growth is lost. And also: if suffer very much from lack of hope, let’s say in despair, and it hurts so badly, then you may still open up for new possibilities. As story: when experiencing advanced cancer during divorce with two small children, the situation was so devastating, that I couldn’t other than overcome fears and explore way beyond the comfort zone.
Hope is not that dumb after all.
It can be part of a mindset about choices. Turns out that this exploration path has become a magical, scary, thrilling path to liberation: the box never dies, but something inside of (the idea of) “me” clearly become the designer.
My latest huge surprise is music — despite enjoying music, writing music was not possible in my former mindset until out of nothing there comes a hint. A line, two, three, a melody, a song. Bumping into people who I didn’t even know, they add some spice, inspiration and practical know-how and end up co-creating songs. What for?, people ask. Not just other people, but also that part of my programming that wants to keep me safe. What the heck is this for?
That song-writing thing really doesn’t fit into the box, but heck it feels good when it’s done. It feels uncomfortable, unknown and yet healthy like training your different bodies to tune it. Non-harming. Why not? This too comes with criticism from self and others: better don’t sing, it hurts. I can’t sing. You should use your talents differently. This is not your best strength…. Doing it anyway, simply opens up the learning-by-doing path to explore and grow beyond fears and to no longer hold back what you feel, what you want to share. The first few songs, there was no hope in my system. Now, after a few songs, I do have hope: may the songs fly and make a tiny inspiration or even change in some hearts and minds. And guess what, they already did! Possibility: act as a carrier pigeon to transport messages and enjoy the flight.
The interesting part is, that many have no clue, what will be the outcome of the endeavour. You can visualize, dream, plan, do what they sell you or simply dare to play, hear a voice inside and follow that voice despite the odds. Intuit what to go for. It often makes no sense and scares the shit out of me. That’s a clear indicator for growth. Slowly, slowly, got used to that “liquid” state. Uncomfortable becomes familiar — smells like growth.
Who can stop the war?
I don’t know. By becoming responsible, aware of the war within oneself, we can intend and put energy into making wiser, more informed, more heart-based choices. The mirror principle: start exploring inside and projecting new peaceful and understanding pictures.
The small stuff matters. Those beautiful human encounters for instance— all free. I got hope: beyond the ups and down movements, Love is all there is.
