What is hope?

Hope is a choice and hope is an action

I went into a therapy session recently feeling despondent and without hope for a particular situation. It was a tough appointment, but my therapist was great. Whilst acknowledging my pain, she reminded me of progress and the ditches I had already climbed out of. I left the session feeling less disheartened.

While on a lovely trip to Edinburgh last week, I went to the bathroom at night. I put on the small book light. As I settled back into bed, I realised this tiny light was more than helping me not trip; it was illuminating the whole room! As I mused on the power of this small lamp, I thought about hope. Like light, even a glimmer of hope can brighten a dark circumstance.

My therapist had helped me choose hope. It was only a faint hope, but it was powerful enough to get me to change my actions. When I acted in line with this hope and not my fears the situation that I thought was doomed improved. (I know doomed is dramatic but it was how I felt)

I love this quote from Nelson Mandela, he certainly made choices in line with his hopes.

As I was thinking about writing this post, I decided to make two postcards to remind me of what I have learned in the last couple of weeks.

Please feel free to print out these hope postcards. You could blue-tack them to a mirror or somewhere you’ll see them each morning. Wishing you firstly a dose of hope and secondly your hope fulfilled.