820th Week: The Importance of Hope

In a recent interview with Bryan Stevenson with Krista Tippett on her On Being program, I found myself resonating with a new and deepened experience and understanding of hope. During the interview, Bryan said something along the lines of “without hope there can only be injustice.” It had to do with what happens to people when they lose hope. They give up, we give up if we don’t have hope that things can be different.

Here’s the link to the podcast, in case you’d like to hear it:https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9BdUF4SF9CZg/episode/NzRlNzI4NGEtNDgyNC00MGI0LWFhMjgtODRjNTE3MDFkYTJl?hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwj7kIzZwrntAhXqpVkKHUJiAwcQjrkEegQIBRAI&ep=6

I remember being in a class a long time ago where someone taught that hope implies that we don’t have what we need. Now that I have returned to an early interest in quantum physics and what the dynamics of quantum realities reveal, I have a different take on hope. I now relate to hope as a dynamic statement of intention orienting me to possibilities that contain positive outcomes I can’t currently imagine. They key is that my relationship to hope resonates with intentions focused on healing, on opening the hearts of all humans, and more. I no longer feel that hope implies lack. For me, now, it implies focused attention on potential healing outcomes.

I also remember someone telling me, many years ago, that as a trauma therapist I needed to remember that someone in the room always needs to hold hope. I understood from that comment that this was part of my role when sitting with people who have experienced traumatic life experiences. And, to be able to hold hope without bypassing or denying the depth of suffering that trauma can bring. It is as a trauma therapist that I have learned to live with an open heart, to allow a full range of human experience to be present without losing hope.

And, on a more spiritually-oriented note, my resonating with hope becomes a contribution to the collectives within which I live. These include the collective community that is my physical body, human collective consciousness, the quality of the environment within which I live, the world through which I move in the course of everyday life. We radiate the qualities with which we resonate in any given moment, and those radiating qualities have a tangible impact on the world around us, along with their impact on our collective consciousness.

For this week’s practice, I invite you to explore your relationship with hope and the meaning you give to that word. Notice the thoughts you have about hope, the feelings that arise when you say the word to yourself. What happens in your body when you orient your awareness to hope? Do you experience hope as a dynamic, intentional presence or do you notice that you feel less energized and, maybe, defeated?

Notice your experience when you consider that orienting to hope from a quantum reality perspective orients you to the intention carried within that hope. For example, holding the hope that things can be better, that we as a human family can heal into greater acceptance of difference, or whatever you may hold as the foundation of your hope, brings you into relationship with the possibility inherent in your hope. Notice the quality of the intention that arises from your orienting to hope in this way. Then, notice how that intention affects your thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations. I often feel inspired or uplifted in the presence of the quality of hope. What arises in you?

Part of this practice is to cultivate a willingness not to know. The older I’ve gotten, the more I realize how much I don’t know, and I seem to have less and less need to know these days, and that includes wanting to know how things are going to work out. More important to me at this point is to resonate with intentions that can draw on positive and healing probabilities that abound within quantum realities. Notice what happens for you when you play with not knowing and, instead, orient to the intentions with which you resonate.

As with all these practices, please remember to bring along curiosity as your constant companion and to pat gently on the head any judgments that may arise, allowing them to move on through without your having to do anything with or about them.

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2 Comments

  1. Thank you Nancy for this treatise on Hope. Krista Toppet is such. Blessing snd you are too. I’ve come to know you through Elizabeth Lehman’s sharing of your stuff. I got to know Elizabeth through our common delight with Barbara Marx Hubbard. Paul Levy wrote a wonderful book on Quantum Consciousness came out about a year ago. Blessings and appreciation. Dick Schwartz is fond of saying that we are “Merchants of Hope!”

    1. Hi Dennis. Thanks for your comments. I appreciate knowing how you connect to Elizabeth. I’ve read Levy’s book on Quantum Revelations and enjoyed it very much. Understanding more about the intersection between the infinite array of quantum possibilities and our own intentions is a wonderfully creative concept to ponder! And, yes, we are indeed “Merchants of Hope!”

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