MEAT ON THE BONES OF HOPE

Every so often you meet somebody who says something that resonates. This happened to me last weekend. A stranger came to shake my hand following a hope presentation. She said, “You really put the meat on the bones of hope for me.”
She is the first person ever to say that to me. And so, even though I knew there was a risk of scattering my vegetarian followers, I began to wonder about the bones of hope. What are the bones of hope, anyway?

Main bone: HOPE MATTERS TO PEOPLE. They like it. They want it. Some say they need it. Some say they fear it. Some say they have lost it. But this is the thing that binds all these people together. Hope matters to them.

Second bone: HOPE RELATES TO OTHER THINGS! For whatever reason, be it psychological or physiological, people who have HOPE do better than people who don’t. There’s a ton of research that shows this. You can spend a whole day on that.

Third bone: HOPE SCARES PEOPLE!!!! Professionals are particularly susceptible to fearing it. They fear that if other people hope, they’ll be the ones left to mop up the tears after the big disappointment occurs. But professionals aren’t the only ones who fear hope. Most of us have small attacks from time to time.

Fourth bone: HOPE IS CONTAGEOUS!!! If you hang around people who have it, it’s hard to keep from catching some.

Fifth bone: HOPE CAN BE DEFINED!!! It is not, as many believe, an intangible idea. Hundreds of researchers have defined it and their definitions are quite similar. In my favourite definitions, hope is described as the involvement of thinking, feeling, acting and relating toward a future fulfillment that is personally meaningful. Now that is definitely not intangible.

Sixth bone: HOPE CAN BE MEASURED!!! Not everyone is interested in measuring hope, but those who wish to can use any one of a number of standardized, validated instruments. Some focus more attention on the emotional aspects, others on the cognitive. But a good selection is out there for anybody who wants to use them.

Seventh bone: HOPE CAN BE EVOKED!!! (or inspired, or activated, or nurtured, or fostered, or instilled). Say it any way you like. Hope can be evoked. This bone is my particular favourite. My work has focused almost entirely on the language, symbols, strategies and methods available to enhance the work of serious hope evokers.

There they are, seven of the larger bones that comprise the skeleton of hope. Most researchers find smaller bones and work away on them. They study hope in the context of cancer, or academic success, or business management, or childhood, or seniorhood. In any given presentation we can choose which bones to put the meat on.

My thanks go out to the stranger who enjoyed the meat of a hope presentation , and then, through the gift of thanks, brought my attention back to the bones.