Ups and Downs of Life - The Art of Hope

The only thing I've always steadfastly and sincerely believed in is hope. When you're building the foundation of your life, it's hope that keeps you going all the time. When faced with despair and suffering, it's your salvation. When pain and feelings of powerlessness overwhelm you, hope is the way to keep moving forward. Never lose hope, because the joy and anticipation it brings will die along with faded faith. Always follow it everywhere, because hope is the right path and the bright choice. It conquers all doubts. Hope is eternal and infinite. It's the flame in life, it's the flame in our hearts. Hope is a golden emotion, but it requires great wisdom. It can bring excitement and wonders to life and be a strong motivator.

Hope is of immense importance for emotional intelligence because it shows us what we truly desire. In its best form, it's life-enhancing energy containing possibilities, change, excitement, and satisfaction. But in its worst, it can quickly turn into disappointment and despair when what we hoped for doesn't happen or if it does, it doesn't bring the expected satisfaction. The ability to be disappointed and to live with it is part of our ability to hope again. It's almost impossible to live without hoping for something. Even the person contemplating suicide hopes that death will be better than life. And even if we truly like a certain situation and don't want anything more, at some point, we may find ourselves hoping it continues. So, hope protects us from fully experiencing the present.

To hope, one needs courage because we're stating what we want to happen. In such cases, two quite challenging possibilities open up before us. What we desire may not come to pass, and then we'll have to swallow it, or it may come true, but we realize we didn't actually want it. Having hope doesn't just mean standing and waiting. Hope is a powerful force that drives action, even when we're in difficulty. It strengthens our resilience, perseverance, and optimism. Hope is one of the fundamental forces we need to develop to live more fully and happily. Let's become true humans who see difficulties not as something bad, but as a lesson we must go through. Life may not change, but we can change the way we look at it, and when faith meets hope, everything is possible!

And a few words from one of the greatest children's writers for me, who has given so much wisdom and joy to both little and big children.

Hope Vendor

If I had a little shop
with just two shelves inside,
guess what I'd sell?

Hope! Hope for everyone.

Buy! With a discount for you!
Everyone needs hope!
And to each I would give,
as much as needed for three.

To the one who has no money
and only looks from outside,
I'd give, without even charging,
all of my hope.

Gianni Rodari

So, do you have hope?