Hope can be a wonderful thing, when we use it correctly. It’s kinda like medicine. When it’s used incorrectly, it can actually be a bad thing. I know that’s an unusual thought, and you probably don’t see how that could possibly be. So stick with me…

It’s wonderful when we use it to:

• Help us through the dark times
• Inspire us to a new, brighter future
• Guide us to our light
• Start us on a journey
• Motivate us with a vision
• Be a gift to others

That’s why we love hope and the idea of hope. If you notice, all of those uses of hope are active.

But we can get addicted to passive hope. Passive hope is a dangerous drug. Hope becomes passive when we just sit around and “hope something good will happen”, when we “hope it will work this time”, when we “hope we will rise to the occasion.” Do you see how that’s passive? We don’t take responsibility for the outcome, we just “hope” for it.

We can absolutely start with hope. And then add commitment, action and belief. Faith, even. Then hope becomes something. Something that resembles movement, growth, challenge and success.

Hope is a great place to start. It’s just not and ending place!

And remember: in all things – progress, not perfection!

Love and light,

Maggie

*****

I signed off with “love and light” back when this was originally published and I’m not gonna practice historical revisionism by changing it now.