Hope...

Daffodils in the Spring are a time of hope. We hope after a dark winter that life will get better. In the school grounds we can see daffodils everywhere at this time of the year. Last week especially we were gifted with fine sunny weather and on certain lunchtimes you could have found me on a seat behind Gwyer reading the Oxford Book of English Verse. Can life have greater pleasures ?

Hope and fear are not mere words or facial gestures. They’re deeply felt neuro-chemical responses towards our current circumstances – that alter our outlooks, our actions, as well as the paths that unfold before us. Fear closes us down. Our actions become rigid and predictable. Pessimism overcomes us and drives our decisions. Our bleak outlooks bleed into our exchanges with family, friends, and colleagues, eroding any collective sense of safety or security. It is when we feel alone and isolated that we are at our most vulnerable. Fear’s negativity also seeps into our bodies and affects our health. We can feel it eating away at our stomachs, raising our stress hormones, and turning our shoulder and neck muscles twisted and stiff.

But what about hope? Do we truly know all that it offers? Can hope lead us out of these dark times?

Hope is not a typical form of being positive. Most positive emotions arise when we feel safe and full. Hope is the exception. It comes into play when our circumstances are dire – things are not going well or at least there’s considerable uncertainty about how things will turn out. Hope arises precisely within those moments when fear, hopelessness or despair seem just as likely. Perhaps we've just failed a test, or been pulled up because our work isn't good enough. Hope, in times like these, is what psychologist Richard Lazarus describes as “fearing the worst but yearning for better.”

Hope literally opens us up. It removes the blinders of fear and despair and allows us to see the big picture. We become creative, unleashing our aspirations for the future. This is because deep within the core of hope is the belief that things can change. No matter how awful or uncertain they are at the moment, things can turn out for the better. Possibilities exist. Belief in this better future sustains us. It keeps us from collapsing in despair. It motivates us to tap into our capabilities and inventiveness to turn things around. It inspires us to build a better future.

Anthropologist Lionel Tiger casts hope as the evolved answer to our big human forebrains. Unlike any other animal, we humans can envision our own futures and, in so doing, all the possible calamities. Without hope, our dire forecasts might reduce us to despair. Yet with hope, we become energised to do as much as we can to solve our current problem, to make a good life for ourselves and for others.

We face serious challenges in all aspects of our lives. The choice of hope over fear is pivotal for all of us. The more hope we cultivate today, the better equipped we’ll be to survive and thrive in the months and years ahead. We’re going to need the openness of hope to face our challenges with clear eyes and to find creative solutions that allow us to come through dark times stronger than ever. So let us be human – let us choose hope and build a better future.