Hope is directly related to our sense of possibility. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), in general, having hope is having an expectation that something good will happen in the future or that something bad won’t happen. You can think about hope in different ways; you can feel it as an emotion or use it as one way to motivate yourself to action or as part of a coping mechanism that gets you through loss.
Jevne & Miller’s Finding Hope, explain that hope is illusive because “you can’t touch it, but you can definitely feel it… hope doesn’t weigh anything, but it can ground you and anchor you.”
Optimism and hope are closely related. The feeling that good things will happen is closely linked to the hope for positive results that is typically focused on a specific goal or area of life. However, hope shouldn’t be confused with wishing. Wishing has more of a quality of fantasy, while hope, according to Jon G. Allen, a senior staff psychologist at The Menniger Clinic, is practical and focused on reality.
Hope can be powerful for the body and mind. Research in the medical field has documented that patients who believe in a positive future for themselves are more likely to take action towards their recovery, experience a decrease in psychological symptoms, and have higher levels of resiliency. Further, patients have shown better outcomes in therapy when their therapist is able to maintain a degree of hope about their abilities and resources.
When hope exists we engage with our environment more. We give more of ourselves to what we do as does everyone else around us. Hope engages our creativity and our problem solving skills. It is a factor in our ability to appreciate ourselves and others and our ability to be grateful for our lives.
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