hopin' and wishin’
If you’re anything like me, hope is a kind of scary thing. When people ask if I’m an optimist or pessimist, I usually say optimist; however, when it comes right down to it, I often keep my expectations or hopes for things I really want low. The disappointment is too difficult for me to manage if I allow myself to really hope. I don’t like to be unprepared and I have to have my safety blanket of control. So, though I am a positive person who wants to be hopeful, I usually temper it as a self-preservation strategy.
However, lately I’ve been reflecting on the power and importance of hope. It has the ability to buoy us in difficult times. And maybe avoiding the pain and heartache of disappointment isn’t as valuable as learning how to weather the disappointment. Avoiding it altogether robs us of practicing an important skill. And sometimes the act itself, putting the intention out into the world, is an important, magical component of accomplishing something difficult or scary or exciting.
Do you think of hope this way? Are you more emotionally evolved than me, fully able to embrace hope in your life? Please teach me your ways! And if not, maybe you’ll like or enjoy or benefit from this prompt. Hope so.
prompt #26
To balance with last week’s anger, cynicism, or however you want to describe it, this week’s prompt is about hope. Sometimes expressing hope can feel very vulnerable or frightening, especially if you, like me, tend to be a little superstitious. However, think of this more as putting the energy of intention out into the universe. Release the hope from within you. Let it free. Give it life, give it flight. What is your hope for yourself, the world, other people, other beings? What is your hope moving forward into the future? What hope are you ready to release?
ashley's piece:
Here’s my promise, dear.
I won’t fear you.
I’ll let you carry me to the surface.
Fly us further than we could have hoped.