“What is hope…” writes Rubem Alves, a founder of Latin Liberation Theology. He goes on to say: “It is the hunch that the overwhelming brutality of facts that oppress and repress us is not the last word.”
For some of us at this very moment, it feels like the possibility of a hopeful future is hanging on a thread.
Whether you’ve been impacted by the outcome of the recent election, or you live in a community that has been existing under siege, or a geography recently impacted by natural disaster – or whether you’re going through a personal loss or health crisis – I want to acknowledge the level of effort my require of you to stay sane and be well at this time.
If this is you, I feel you. I cannot pretend to know exactly the nature of your pain. I may not be the survivor of a similar kind of struggle. But you are in my heart. And I care.
And while I don't have an answer to the question “what next?” I do have a practice of deep resilience, sourced from my own times of reckoning with intolerable pain – and I may have some practices that can help.
In a recent group coaching session, I had the privilege of interacting with a woman who had just gone through a month of waiting to find out if her cancer, recently in remission, had come back. After receiving a marginally positive test, her oncologist had wisely suggested she wait a month and test again – but a month of waiting to find out if her life was yet again on the line had nearly sent her over the edge.
How do we survive not knowing? How to tolerate the sensation of impending disaster?
From where do we resource our will – to act… to breathe… to live?
By the time my client and I found ourselves in group space together, she had weathered the worst of it. On the other side of that month, she received the good news of a negative test result and her doctors declaration that the original test had been a false positive. And yet, there’s always the next test. And so… what now?
When we began our conversation, she asked for help with a strategy to balance her two lines of work, both of which seemed to have a fairly depleting impact on her energy as she spoke.
Her goal was to get back to baseline. Having taken nearly a month off life and work to recover from this news, she was ready to restabilize (a wise intention) and wanted help to settle back into a normal and grounded, healthy existence. The problem was…
And then something shifted. I asked a question that provoked an unexpected answer – unexpected to both of us in fact – and suddenly her face lit up. She started to describe a new line of work that she’d been considering (secretly researching). It wasn’t effortful.
And her energy completely changed.
Bingo. This was the momentum she needed to ride her way out of the storm.
As human beings, we don't just want to survive – we want to thrive. Something in us pulls us toward the inner sensation of increase: more love, more connection, more dignity, more wealth, more abundance, more freedom, more aliveness… more joy.
And when this “belief” kind of hope isn’t fully available – when the overwhelming brutality of facts that oppress us are pointing to destruction or despair – tapping into a sense of purposeful action (especially action in alignment with your deepest values, dreams or desires) can stand in with an energetic of sincere possibility.
Dreaming, visioning and taking action in this new direction supports the nervous system to re-engage with life and to run positive, life-giving chemicals through your body and brain.
Neurologically, it changes you. But it isn’t a hack.
When you allow yourself to dream a new reality – even in your small corner of the world… and when you make a heart-felt, intentional commitment to shape that corner of the world in alignment with your vision and you do something daily to practice engaging others in your cause… you build a sustainable pathway to your own psychological wellbeing.
Some part of you already knows this. It’s human nature. But when the burden feels hard to bear, it can feel like the last thing you want to do. So you just might need a hand (or at least a reminder).
In the words of writer and activist Mariame Kaba, “Hope is a discipline… we have to practice it every day.”
This week I invite you to consider… what are you practicing today that connects you with a sense of hope?
Tend one dream. Pick one new action. Take baby steps.
In love and reverence,
LeeAnn
PS – want support to craft hopeful vision for the future of your work, activism or impact? Let’s talk.
