Toolkit for Wellbeing:
Hope
Definition of Hope: Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.
How do stay hopeful, especially when we’ve made mistakes? Growth mindset reminds us that we are a work in progress. Watch this video to learn more about what this means.
The Benefits of
Cultivating Hope
Hope can be a tricky concept, especially when equated with blind optimism or toxic positivity. However, when we are talking about cultivating hope it is in the context of battling the hopelessness that can be a risk factor for depression and suicidality.
Hope is an act of empowerment built on the belief that we have a say in our destiny.
As humans, we need to believe, as Rebecca Solnit states, “that what we do might matter”. Active hope, rather than passive hope, is a practice of impacting the future that we are a part of creating rather than believing we are victims of a future that’s predetermined.
It is the sweet spot between the sometimes deluded certainty of optimism that everything will always turn out okay and the equally misguided certitude of pessimism that states there is no point to our effort. Hope is found in the balance between the tension of these two opposites. Hope inspires us to act and to believe in our own power.
Cultivating a growth mindset, learning from our experiences, both our triumphs and our failures, is an essential part of hope.
Theories and research that inform our understanding of what works to cultivate resiliency and wellbeing as well as storytelling are all part of our Toolkit practices for operationalizing Hope.
Contact
The Sky Center
For more information on our Toolkit Workshops / Webinars and additional ways we can help your organization enhance resiliency and sustainability, please contact us: