Monthy HOPE

1st

I am prepared for the worst, but hope for the best. - Benjamin Disraeli

 

2nd

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning. - Albert Einstein

 

3rd

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. - Martin Luther King Jr.

 

4th

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness. - Desmond Tutu

 

5th

My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return. - Maya Angelou

 

6th

Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today. - Thich Nnat Hanh

 

7th

Never deprive someone of hope; it might be all they have. - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

 

8th
Hope is a waking Dream. - Aristotle

9th

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. - Joseph Addison

 

10th

Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality. - Jonas Salk

 

11th

We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon. - Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

12th

A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. - Elbert Hubbard

 

13th

Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future. - Robert H. Schuller

14th

I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe. - Dalai Lama

15th

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for. - Epicurus

16th

There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope. - Bernard Williams

 

17th

We must free ourselves of the hope that the sea will ever rest. We must learn to sail in high winds. - Aristotle Onassis

18th

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all. - Emily Dickinson

 

19th

Everything that is done in the world is done by hope. - Martin Luthur

 

20th

Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us. - Samuel Smiles

 

21st

Hope is the pillar that holds up the world. Hope is the dream of a waking man. - Pliny the Elder

 

22nd

Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday. - John Wayne

 

23rd

The human heart has hidden treasures, In secret kept, in silence sealed; The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures, Whose charms were broken if revealed. - Charlotte Bronte

 

24th

One lives in the hope of becoming a memory. - Antonio Porchia

25th

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die. - Edward Kennedy

 

26th

The theological virtue of hope is the patient and trustful willingness to live without closure, without resolution, and still be content and even happy because our Satisfaction is now at another level, and our Source is beyond ourselves. - Richard Rohr

 

27th

All kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them. - Magic Johnson

28th

There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow. - Orison Swett Marden

29th

To live without Hope is to Cease to live. - Fyodor Dostoevsky

 

30th

Hope is tomorrow's veneer over today's disappointment. - Evan Esar

 

31st

Every day begins with an act of courage and hope: getting out of bed. - Mason Cooley

Hope the New Years resolutions are still going strong!

Every year millions of people make New Years Resolutions. We all do it with the best intentions. There is something about the start of the year that makes us open to change. It is a new beginning, the start of something.

They tend to be very personal and related to oneself.
Here is the top ten.

1) Lose Weight and Get Fit
2) Quit Smoking
3) Learn Something New
4) Eat Healthier and Diet
5) Get Out of Debt and Save Money
6) Spend More Time with Family
7) Travel to New Places
8) Be Less Stressed
9) Volunteer
10) Drink Less

Okay, so how many have you made before?
Was one of these yours this year?
Is it still going, as it is the 8th January after all?

Despite everything we tend to let them go. We do not want to be too strict with ourselves and it is easy to forget them after a while. "I'll do that next week". Sounds familiar?

Instead of New Years resolutions, how about a daily resolution. Write it down an a piece of paper and tack it to the fridge door. Every morning READ it, and do it for that day. Don't think about tomorrow or next week.

It is only a day and you can do it. You will be surprised how the days can add up. Who knows it might even work.

Mum and Dad

They bring you up, your mum and dad.
   They mean to, and they do.

They fill you with all the dreams they had

   And then you add a few.

 

They were brought up in their turn

   By old fogies with no style.

Who in their time were sometimes strict

   And sometimes laughed a while.

 

Handing down the mystery of life.

   Deep meanings about the self.

Go out and take the world on

   And do have kids yourself.

________________________________________

I disagree with Philip Larkin because I am hopefully optimistic!

Hope is...

Hope is the distant glimmer of recovery.

It is the light at the end of the tunnel.

It is the opposite of despair.

Reduces the negative as diagnosed.

The will to go on.

Against the odds.

It can disprove the theories of logic.

Confound the experts.

Prove that there is a reason for life.

And lead you to peace with one’s real self.

The future is bright

There is hope now.



© Thereishopenow and HOPE, 2014

HOPE Placebo

Hope is very expensive if you don't give any at all. It will cost you dearly. 

 

In actual fact it costs you nothing, it is an attitude of mind. To be instilled and given out freely. You could give out large amounts but then people get unrealistic expectations because their hopes have been raised too much. It is best given out in small doses, they tend to stay with someone and can do wonders. 

 

The mind is a very powerful part of us that can perform amazing things. Ever heard of a placebo? It's usually a tablet that physically will do nothing for a patient. The strange thing is that they can work and make people feel better. I suspect that the key ingredient in any placebo is hope.

Here is an interesting article on 'Psych Central – Mental health & psychology information and support'.
The Amazing Power of the Placebo Effect By Jamie Hale 

  

 

 

 

© Thereishopenow and HOPE, 2014

GCSEs

Today you may have received your GCSE results. I hope you got the grades you were hoping for today.

 

If not, do not worry. There are many ways to build on your achievments so far. True these pieces of paper are supposed to mark and grade you now but they are not you. It is just a grade today.

 

You will continue to grow and learn. Tomorrow you will be a different person, older and wiser. Next week/month/year you will answer questions differently and would get different grades, if you were to take the same paper again. You will learn from the experience and grow.

 

Some achieve amazing things from nowhere, with no certificates.
You could do the same if you have to.

 

Life throws things in your way and you may trip up..
But getting up again is far more important.
You may have to walk in a different direction but so what.
Who knows you may start running!


© Thereishopenow and HOPE, 2014

Today will be better!

We have always needed hope, it is what gives us faith in the future, hoping that it will be better tomorrow.


It has often been associated with religions and at times has even had its own personification.


In Greek mythology, Elpis was the spirit of hope. She along with the other daimones were trapped in a jar by Zeus and entrusted to the care of the first woman Pandora. When she, in her curiosity, opened the vessel all of the spirits escaped except for Elpis (Hope) who alone remained to comfort mankind. Elpis was depicted as a young woman carrying flowers in her arms.


In Roman mythology, SPES, was the personification of Hope. Originally a nature goddess, she represented at first the hope of fruitful gardens and fields, then of abundant offspring, and lastly of prosperity to come and good fortune in general, being hence invoked on birthdays and at weddings. Spes was represented as a beautiful maiden in a long light robe, lifting up her skirt with her left hand, and carrying in her right a bud already closed or about to open. Sometimes she wore a garland of flowers on her head, ears of corn and poppy heads in her hand, symbolical of a prosperous harvest.




The hope I want to encourage is not a such a personification but something that should be within all of us, and it is there, always. Its just that sometimes it is very small and hard to find, but it will always be there somewhere.


All of us go though life experiences and sometimes these can reduce our hope and make it smaller. Some go though more than others. This is when hope needs boosting so that it can be made larger.


Some of us can take the knocks that life throws at us, some of us can not. It is our hope that makes us resilient and carry on, getting up the next morning and saying to ourselves 'Today will be better'.


© Thereishopenow and HOPE, 2014