Courageous Hope

“The world often seems divided between false hope and gratuitous despair. Despair demands less of us, it’s more predictable and in a sad way safer. Authentic hope requires clarity - seeing the trouble in this world - and imagination, seeing what might lie beyond these citations that are perhaps not inevitable and immutable” ~ Rebecca Solnit

Hope is not a naive belief that everything will turn out okay; Hope is an active frame of heart that leads us to courageous action. In reflecting on this topic I read a number of articles on hope, courage and resilience. Interestingly the articles span a 30 year period - yet all of them spoke to the need for hope and courage in ‘unprecedented’ times. As we look at our world today, we often think we are living in a uniquely chaotic and turbulent time - and yet each of the authors across the thirty years also felt that was true for them.

In times of turbulence it can feel safer or more comfortable to slip into despair - but despair and darkness paralyze us. Martin Luther King, Jr. explained: “If you lose hope, you lose that vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of all.”

Choosing hope can be a courageous act. An act that sees the brutal facts as Jim Collins would describe it, and holds the firm belief that you will prevail - no matter how long it may take. Some authors have described this as realistic optimism - it is hope and courage and heart and working with intention. In order to create the kind of families, organizations, communities, countries and world we hope for - we must courageously confront the facts and then focus on the work to move us forward. Hope is a verb!