{"id":92,"date":"2011-07-27T14:46:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-27T14:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lidaprypchan.org\/?p=92"},"modified":"2015-07-19T20:28:39","modified_gmt":"2015-07-19T20:28:39","slug":"the-secret-weapon-of-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lidaprypchan.org\/?p=92","title":{"rendered":"The Secret Weapon of Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Carol Daly \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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HOPE is the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one’s life. It is the “feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best” or the act of “looking forward to with desire and reasonable confidence” or “feeling that something desired may happen”; “to cherish a desire with anticipation”; “to desire with expectation of obtainment”; or “to expect with confidence”.<\/span><\/div>\n
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OPTIMISM is having “hopefulness and confidence about the future or successful outcome of something; a tendency to take a favorable or hopeful view.” The word is originally derived from the Latin optimum, meaning “best.” Being optimistic, in the typical sense of the word, ultimately means one expects the best possible outcome from any given situation. This is usually referred to in psychology as dispositional optimism. (1)<\/span><\/div>\n
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Hope is often referred to as an emotion rooted in (early) trust experiences and influenced by external and collaborative control beliefs. Optimism is often seen more as a cognitive construct consisting of a generalized belief in positive outcomes based on rational estimates of a person’s likelihood of success and a belief in personal efficacy. \u00a0Studies conducted on the effects of hope and optimism on promoting health show a positive correlation when present to decreased symptoms, pain and illness. \u00a0Furthermore they show that perhaps more hopeful individuals, as compared to optimists, are better able to cope with more serious life events, and are thus less susceptible to illness. \u00a0(2)<\/span><\/div>\n
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Dr Norman Cousins, (1915-1990) was called the \u2018conscience of America\u2019 and a pioneer in research on the medical relationship of the mind and the body. \u00a0In his book \u201cThe Anatomy of an Illness\u201d he chronicles his experience of contracting a rare collagen illness \u2013 a life threatening and supposedly non recuperative connective tissue disease at the age of fifty. \u00a0He then had a major heart attack at sixty-five going on to live until the age of seventy-five. \u00a0He achieved miraculous recoveries from both and talked about relying on doctors for 30% of his recovery while taking full responsibility for the other 70%. \u00a0He believed that laughter, hope, a strong determination and playing a significant role in his treatment accounted for his full recovery. (3)<\/span><\/div>\n
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While in the hospital with the collagen illness, Dr. Cousins put a sign on his bed that said \u201cI only give blood on Thursdays\u201d and he watched recordings of hilarious comedy shows and movies inviting other patients to join him. \u00a0He also partnered with his doctor and decided that large doses of vitamin C should be included as part of his treatment. And so, after a time he completely recovered from his illness. In a dialogue with Daisaku Ikeda, \u201cHope\u201d he said was his secret weapon. Dr, Cousins also remarked \u201cDeath is not the greatest tragedy that befalls us in life. What is far more tragic is for an important part of oneself to die while one is still alive. \u00a0There is no more terrifying tragedy than this. \u00a0What is important is to accomplish something in this life.\u201d \u00a0Dr. Cousins was a strong willed man who refused to be defeated by his illness. (4)<\/span><\/div>\n
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I am deeply impressed by Dr. Cousin\u2019s experience and have shared his story many times when talking to people about health and wellness.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Nelson Mandela more often used the word optimism in the fullest sense of the word to describe his approach to life. \u00a0It is curious that none or very few of his famous quotes contain the word hope. The story of Nelson Mandela, a personal hero of mine, is incredible. \u00a0He survived 28 years in prison breaking rocks day after day and found hope and strength in the midst of this insane unending monotony having no inherent value of its own. \u00a0He read widely and meditated on the poem \u201cInvictus\u201d which he said gave him the strength and determination to never give in to his miserable circumstances. \u00a0The poem reads:<\/span><\/div>\n
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OUT of the night that covers me,<\/span><\/div>\n
Black as the pit from pole to pole,<\/span><\/div>\n
I thank whatever gods may be<\/span><\/div>\n
For my unconquerable soul.<\/span><\/div>\n
In the fell clutch of circumstance<\/span><\/div>\n
I have not winced nor cried aloud.<\/span><\/div>\n
Under the bludgeonings of chance<\/span><\/div>\n
My head is bloody, but unbow’d.<\/span><\/div>\n
Beyond this place of wrath and tears<\/span><\/div>\n
Looms but the Horror of the shade,<\/span><\/div>\n
And yet the menace of the years<\/span><\/div>\n
Finds and shall find me unafraid.<\/span><\/div>\n
It matters not how strait the gate,<\/span><\/div>\n
How charged with punishments the scroll,<\/span><\/div>\n
I am the master of my fate:<\/span><\/div>\n
I am the captain of my soul.<\/span><\/div>\n
W.E. Henley<\/span><\/div>\n
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It is remarkable that Nelson Mandela became the President of South Africa after being released from prison. \u00a0He truly lived this poem and did his greatest work in his seventies and eighties. (5)<\/span><\/div>\n
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Hope is related and similar to optimism but I see it as the stronger, broader, more philosophically and spiritually based of the two. I think what makes hope so powerful is that it is a feeling, a welling up of the greater universal energy that resides within us that has the power to dispel negativity in its deepest and darkest manifestations. It is not just the cognitive mind but the interconnected mind, body and spirit invisibly meshing together. If sustained and strengthened, hope can enable a person to not only meet the challenge at hand but use the situation or problem as a means to deeply transform.<\/span><\/div>\n
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I ask myself where the strength, courage, determination and hope come from. These virtues are often ignited by injustices and inspired from art, literature and the victories of living and historical heroes, heroines and mentors. They well up from our own determination, will, faith and belief and are further strengthened by our own experiences of achievement, fighting injustices or overcoming a difficulty.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Life seems to embrace a fundamental darkness and enlightenment that are two but yet interrelated creating a perfect tension. I have experienced on a daily basis the vicissitudes of both and found that the darker emotions of jealousy, despair, depression, denial and unenlightened anger can arise and thicken quite easily and need to be tempered. I have heard and agree with the saying \u201cThe mind and emotions are like wild elephants.\u201d \u00a0One can be utterly stampeded by their force.<\/span><\/div>\n
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On the other hand, the enlightened virtues of courage, perseverance, compassion, creativity, patience, tolerance, joy and hope require all of my effort to nourish and sustain through conscious awareness and steady practice. \u00a0This is much like polishing a diamond. The brilliance and beauty of a diamond in the rough cannot be seen without rigorous polishing and cutting and is always highly sought after and admired. \u00a0In the same way, when polished by difficulties, life finds opens a way for hope to shine brilliantly in the invisible realms of our hearts and manifest visibly in making the impossible possible.<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cHope is independent of the apparatus of logic.\u201d ~Norman Cousins<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cI am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one\u2019s head pointed toward the sun, one\u2019s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.\u201d ~Nelson Mandela<\/span><\/div>\n
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When the world says, “Give up,” Hope whispers, “Try it one more time.”~Author Unknown<\/span><\/div>\n
Oxford Dictionary<\/span><\/div>\n
A Prospective Study of Hope, Optimism, and Health (This article appeared in Psychological Reports, 1997, 81, 723-733)<\/span><\/div>\n
Norman Cousins \u201cAnatomy of an Illness\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
Daisaku Ikeda \u201cHumanism and the Art of Medicine\u201d \/A new Century of Health<\/span><\/div>\n
Nelson Mandela \u201cLong Walk to Freedom\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 By Carol Daly \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 HOPE is the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one’s life. It is the “feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn … <\/p>\n

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