Hope is a Choice

The Archangels Tell Us it Takes Effort and Practice

I just read a beautiful article written by my Medium friend of several years, Shirley Willett, entitled Hope, Joy, Love and Peace.  She honored me by mentioning me and the messages I share from the Archangels as an inspiration, and I’m returning the favor, not because of quid pro quo, but because she inspired me right back.

I met Shirley several years ago through my writing on Medium, and we’ve formed a very loving connection and take turns commenting on each other’s articles.  Shirley is in her 90’s and has conquered many challenges in her long life.  Based on the stories about her life she’s shared, she was always way ahead of her time, and she has accomplished so much more than she should have been able to through her fortitude, intelligence, innovation, and the love she’s shared with other people along the way.  She doesn’t have to do another thing to be an inspiration to us, because when you read about her life, it’s blatantly obvious that she’s wonderful and good and kind, someone to treasure.

Like everyone, Shirley’s had highs and lows, and at one point, shortly after I began to share messages from the Archangels about the Big 4 – that’s joy, hope, love, and peace – she shared in one of her comments that she struggled most with hope, as she could see all the terrible things happening in the world, which can seem so overwhelming at times.  I told her then that hope was a choice, that it took work and practice.  She said she would take my advice to heart, and if you read the mentioned article above, you’ll see that she not only worked on having more hope, but she finds ways to share that hope with other people.  Beautiful.

It’s easy to get lost in the chaos.  The media is full of distressing, depressing stories and accounts of the negative things happening in the world, and it rarely bothers to cover the good things going on, and yes, there are many good things happening.  It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, fearful, and hopeless these days, but we need to fight that.  Things are not going to get better if we can’t envision them getting better.  When times are tough that’s when hope is needed most.  I asked the Archangels for some pointers on how to bring more hope into our lives, and their answer follows.

Question:  There are so many things happening right now that are negative and challenge us to find, much less hold onto, hope.  What suggestions do you have that might help us to do this?

Answer:

The difference between being hopeful and hopeless is astronomical.  When a person has no hope, fear is usually the first to move in, followed by isolation.  Hope is rarely automatic, especially during difficult times.  It is a choice that requires effort, vision, and faith, but that faith does not necessarily have to come from an outside source, as it can be self-generated.  For hope to be long lasting and sustainable, it requires a certain mindset, a decision to look for the “good”, rather than be defeated by the “bad.”   This takes practice, until it becomes a habit. 

We know there are many upsetting things happening in the world right now, and you have every reason to take exception to them and become angry, fearful, disgusted, or any other emotion you experience.  By all means, feel and acknowledge those emotions, but resist the temptation to become mired in them and to lose hope.  There should always be hope.  You must release these emotions at some point if you wish to feel better and heal, and when you do not release them, the very things that upset you in the first place are energetically strengthened.  Consider what happens when an angry person encounters another angry person, and things escalate.  One’s anger affects another’s, and it is very difficult to find solutions in such a setting. 

To hope does not necessarily mean to discard or avoid the negative things going on around you, as that is often impossible.  To choose to hope that things will eventually become better is to refuse defeat.  Even if you do not yet know what needs to happen or what you must do in order to find a solution, you can and should find hope that there is a way.  This is not to suggest that you simply wait for the antidote to fall into place, all on its own, without any effort on your part.  Rather, it means you resist being defeated and continue with determination and faith that a solution can be found, and if the solution requires effort on your part, and you are able to give it, you should commit to giving it.  To give into hopelessness is to contribute to the problem.

There are times when a solution cannot be found.  In such a case, you should have hope that you will endure and overcome whatever situation you face.  All problems cannot be solved, but that does not mean that you are defeated.  Sometimes, you can only endure and end a chapter in your life, but once you begin to plan the next chapter, you prove that you have overcome your challenges as you begin again.  When you maintain hope, you maintain strength. 

Hope should include and can grow from the knowledge that you are smart, capable, and powerful in various ways.  Failure does not necessarily mean the same as defeat.  Failure happens sometimes, but if you maintain hope, you can overcome it.  We do not advocate that you ignore or avoid reality, or that you lie to yourself that the issues that besiege you will magically disappear.  We simply suggest that you accept that if you cannot maneuver around a problem or control the outcome of a situation, you understand and believe that it will not last forever, and you will survive it, because you have the capability to survive virtually anything, and if the problem is fatal, such as in the case of terminal illness, you should know that your soul will survive that, too, even if your human body does not.  The soul has everlasting life, a gift from the Creator, which you already possess and which cannot be taken from you.

Most of you have a limited understanding of emotional energy, but we wish you to know that hope if very high in vibration, as are joy, love, peace, gratitude, and compassion, among others.  When you work on making these types of emotions a regular, sustained part of your life, your individual vibration rises, which makes it easier to continue in these emotions and to more clearly connect with and attract other positive, high vibrational energy.  The Earth’s energetic vibration has risen significantly over the last several years.  These kinds of emotions can affect your individual consciousness and vibration, and eventually have a positive effect on the collective consciousness and vibration, which will lead to more unity and eventual peace on the planet.

At this point, please consider that you have survived everything you have faced during this lifetime, or you would not be reading this.  This is true of every living person.  If you have survived in misery, you have left out hope, whereas if you include hope in whatever journey you undertake, under any given set of circumstances, the time you spend will not be so miserable.  The time will pass, regardless of how you spend it.  Why not spend it with hope?  These chaotic times will not last forever.  Things will get better once the people unite to make them so.

One thing you can do is to distance yourself from all of the negativity displayed in copious amounts in the media, and substitute more hopeful visions that may or may not have materialized yet.  If you scan the news stories that are constantly bombarding you, notice how many are based on worse case scenarios, exaggerations, what-ifs, could-be’s, and controversial, even untrue information meant to manipulate your emotions, induce fear and anger, and maintain the separation between the masses.  We understand the need to stay informed about what is happening in the world, but the negative predictions do not assist in doing that.  By all means, stay aware, but do not participate in the doomsday propaganda that is so readily available.

Every plan, every attempted change, begins with a vision, does it not?  If you cannot see a better place for you, how will you create it?  Begin with what you hope will happen, then think of things you can do to make it happen.  All goals begin with hope followed by a vision.  The vision then becomes a goal or a dream.  Then, if you truly wish to make it your reality, you work the plan.  Hope, vision, goal, plan, work, with constant reassessment and self-assessment will lead to a better life.  Also, work on believing in yourself, for you are powerful.  Once you make hope a habit and learn to believe in yourself, then you can work on manifestation with the Universe, and you will not feel alone.  There are many beings within the Universe who are willing to help anyone who is willing to help themselves.

When you focus on your problems, they are all that you can see.  Be aware of the problems, but be sure to invite hope, so you may also work on solutions.  The first step in overcoming a problem is to see past it to a better way and time.  You cannot do that without hope.  If you do not have hope, why would you bother with trying to find a solution?  You must first believe that it is possible to find it, and the way to do that is through hope.  The Earth and mankind have many serious problems, but if all you do is focus on those problems and do not have hope that a better life is possible, you are already defeated, and it is not the problems that have defeated you.  When you reject hope, you defeat yourself.  The first step to take is to want to find hope, to commit to making hope a permanent part of your life.  This has nothing to do with outside sources of conflict and has everything to do with internal direction and commitment.  Choose hope, and it will show you the way to finding solutions, fortitude, and power.  We are happy to help you, if you invite us to do so.

Final Thoughts

Some people think that strength is attached to power and control over others, but they are wrong.  I submit to you that hope is much more powerful, as are joy, love, and peace.  Consider these quotes about hope:

-       “Hope never abandons you, you abandon it.” – George Weinberg

-       “However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.  Where there’s life, there’s hope.” – Stephen Hawking

-       “Where there is no vision, there is no hope.” – George Washington Carver

-       “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” – Thomas Jefferson

-       “Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something you design for the present.” – Jim Rohn

-       “Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear.  If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

-       “Everything that is done in this world is done by hope.” – Martin Luther

-       “No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful the experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster.” – Dalai Lama XIV

-       “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” – Desmond Tutu

-       “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement.  Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” – Helen Keller

Hope is not only helpful, it is essential to moving forward and attaining your goals and dreams.  Hope is also a choice, as is turning away from it.  Neither hard times nor good times last forever, but you can make any situation as good or as bad as you choose by either inviting or discarding hope.  We can’t always control a situation, in fact we rarely can for any length of time, but we can control our reaction to whatever comes our way.  We can choose love over hate, compassion over anger, and hope over fear and defeat. 

The intention for Friday Night Meditation with the Archangels for the month of July is Healing, and I’m pretty sure all of us can use more healing in our lives.  Healing begins with experiencing the emotions that come with any trauma, including becoming upset with what is happening in the world right now, but we have to take it a step further and choose to heal from the experience, rather than remaining stuck in pain and defeat.  When we hold onto the fear, anger, hatred, outrage, disappointment, etc. attached to people and situations, we delay healing.  If you’d like to join our meditation group, simply call out to the Archangels from wherever you are, at whatever time you’re available, and offer loving thoughts of healing to whoever needs it.  The Angels will take it from there. 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend full of joy, hope, love, and peace, and I hope you open yourself to whatever healing you need. 

Blessings, all.