Barbara: Margie, what made you think of “hope” for the letter “H”?
Margie: I think of hope because I’ve experienced the flow of good things into my life. I believe that when you open your life to more flow, this has a positive impact and is a place of hope. Hope is the positive belief set that allows you to trust.
When you are living a hopeful life, your attitude naturally turns to the positive, and even when clouds emerge on the horizon, you are able to see the silver linings.
Frequently, my friends ask how I can be so positive in times that seem so dire. It’s not that I don’t realize the reality, it’s that I’m hopeful and I believe that it is possible for good to prevail.
How about you, Barbara?
Barbara: Wow, Margie! That was inspiring! For me, when I am in the process of tuning my awareness to my emotional state - my “vibration” - I have a collection of happy thoughts that I use to focus my attention. I let the negative drift away. Many of my happiest thoughts are hopeful about what is to come in the near future.
To be clear, I don’t ignore or shove away anything unhappy. I do have a healthy practice for healing what is not positive. I use my happy thought collection when I need to consciously uplift myself from thoughts of sadness, grief, or worry.
For example, I am hopeful about a visit from a good friend that is likely to happen in the summertime. When I think about our plans and our time together, I am happy, and I am hopeful that the visit will be joyful for both of us.
When it comes to larger issues - even the state of the world - it can be challenging to find sparks of hope. That is why some of the “good news” outlets are so important - to celebrate kindness, courage, devotion, dedication, and, most of all, hope. When it is hard for me to expand hopefulness to encompass what I know is going on in the larger world, I can turn to these outlets for a dose of hope.
Margie: For me, the feeling of hope is like the feeling of spring! There are possibilities beyond my knowledge that can flow in. One of my favorite examples is when I have a chance encounter - which happens frequently - that affirms my work, my beliefs, and, sometimes, the goodness in people; like the person I met in the airport. I was sitting at a table, and I put my glasses down. They decided to flop, lens down. A gentleman gently righted them because he’s an optometrist. We started talking. I found myself sharing this blog, and he was very excited about our work. He wants to do more with his life and saw this as a possibility.
Such encounters lift me up and give me hope.
Barbara: Wonderful! I’m so glad we talked about hope. These writing sessions we have each week are a big part of staying hopeful for me.
Margie: And me too!
Next week, Margie will discuss how she wished for her photos to be published and, of course, they did!
Until then,
Peace and All Good,
Margie and Barbara
The Wish Mavens
Try these ideas if you are looking for outlets of good news:
Good News Network: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/
50 Good News Stories from Around the World That Will Brighten Your Day
Compiled by the Editors of Reader's Digest Canada: https://www.readersdigest.ca/culture/good-news-stories-world/
The Top 12 Good News Websites to Leave You More Hopeful: https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/good-news-websites
Photo Credit
The photo featured in this post was taken by (and is copyrighted by) Margaret A. Herrick.