The Woman's Book of Hope. Eileen Campbell
two people playing chess, one of whom is Satan, the other a young man, possibly Faust, since Retzsch illustrated Goethe's Faust.
The chessboard appears to be placed on the lid of a sarcophagus, and a skull reminds us that death is never far away. Hope is also present in the form of a guardian angel, who watches over the young man. He looks forlorn, as if he knows the game is over and his soul is lost. Checkmate!
The story goes that a chess Grandmaster on a visit to the gallery spent a long time studying the positions of the chess pieces. Suddenly he cried out, “It's a lie. The painter is wrong. There is a way out. The king has another move.” The young man actually has the chance to defeat his deadly opponent. All is not lost!
However desperate a situation and however troubled we may feel, there is always hope. Just as stars in the sky are at their brightest when it's truly dark, so we can find hope in the darkness of despair. Whatever our pain and suffering, all is not lost. We have a choice; we can save ourselves: we can select hope and turn the situation around.
I remind myself that there is always hope, however dark things may seem.
I am choosing hope and turning the situation around.
I know that I possess the resources to deal with my problem.
2. Allowing inspiration to take hold
If we choose to rise above our circumstances and dare to hope that the future might be better, we need to feel inspired and focus on what lifts our spirits, rather than be brought down by the negative messages and depressing news stories that dominate our media. We need positive and hopeful encouragement. After all, as the Dalai Lama reminds us:
The very purpose of our life is happiness, which is sustained by hope. We have no guarantee about the future, but we exist in the hope of something better. Hope means keeping going, thinking, “I can do this.” It brings inner strength, self-confidence, the ability to do what you do honestly, truthfully and transparently.
We actually have a tool we can use to help us, one that is always with us—our breath. Inspire means to breathe into or blow upon, so inspiration is breathing into the mind or soul. Instead of focusing on those thoughts that make us feel hopeless, we can choose to focus on our breath instead. This simple act of connecting with the breath calms us and helps us feel more hopeful. As the basis of meditation and as a regular practice (see pp. 50–51), it can have enormously beneficial effects.
We can also turn to nature to inspire us. Modern life has somehow caused us to become disconnected from nature, yet we can choose to take a walk in a park or garden, along a river or canal, by the seashore—wherever we can take ourselves to so that we can be aware of the beauty of our surroundings. Allowing our senses to be uplifted by nature's sights, sounds, and scents enables us to forget our troubles for a while and recharges our batteries.
We might choose to listen to some uplifting music, go for a swim, have a massage, read an inspirational book, look at paintings in a gallery, cook something special, or do some gardening. Sometimes merely taking a long luxurious bath, washing our hair, and putting on fresh clothes and make-up can make a difference to our mood.
Affirmations help too, by changing our patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior. An affirmation is a strong positive statement, which can be general or specific. It has to be clear and concise and in the present tense, as if it already exists. We can affirm, for example: “The future looks brighter for me” rather than “The future will be brighter for me.” We can say the affirmations silently or out loud, or we can write them down. Making continuous positive statements and trying to believe an affirmation as much as possible helps shake off any negativity and restore some kind of balance in ourselves. While accepting what currently exists, we can see the possibility of creating something better for the future and therefore feel energized and more hopeful, even in the most difficult of situations.
I dare to hope the future is brighter.
Focusing on my breath, I am calmer and more balanced.
I seek to be nourished and inspired.
3. Vibrating at a higher frequency
Our universe consists of matter and energy. Matter is merely energy moving very slowly, which behaves at a quantum level like a wave. Energy is matter moving very rapidly, and it takes the form of a field with invisible lines of force. The universe is a constant translation of matter into energy and energy into matter, which is expressed through vibrations, waves, and fields. Everything in the universe vibrates, including us, and our emotions are also vibrations.
When we choose to hope rather than despair, we automatically tune in to a higher vibrational level, freeing ourselves from the negative impact of the slower vibrations like fear, anxiety, and doubt. We don't have to be held back by self-limiting thoughts and ideas that have become ingrained and that tell us something isn't possible. We can change them.
Neuroscience has shown that we create our world moment by moment with our thoughts, words, and deeds, something the truly wise have always known and that are expressed here in the words of the Buddha:
The thought manifests as the word
The word manifests as the deed
The deed develops into habit
And the habit hardens into character.
We can envision and create better lives for ourselves through accessing the higher vibrational states of imagination, insight, and intuition. To develop these states, we need a greater balance of the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Most of us tend to be left-brain dominant, relying on it for rational thinking and our actions and responses to events in our lives. There's nothing wrong with rational thinking, but sometimes we don't know all the facts, or a situation is gray or confused because of too many facts, and that's where intuitive skills are more helpful. It's the right brain that is more attuned to these. Even a great scientist like Einstein recognized that intuition is important. All of us have intuitive abilities, but we just need to practice using them more.
We can develop our intuition by changing the way we pay attention in the world. Technology has brought so many distractions that our attention is focused on what is going on outside and around us, rather than what is going on in our inner world. We tend not to trust the signs, gut feelings, coincidences, or our dreams—those sources of information that come from our subconscious mind and are there to help us on our journey. Intuition gives us a different way of perceiving the world and helps us see what's hard to see. It can tell us what's right and wrong in our lives, what we need to change, and where we need to make adjustments.
When we access both right and left sides of the brain, we're less trapped by the problems we find ourselves facing. We're connected to the life force and attuned to the higher vibrations, enabling us to eliminate those attitudes and behaviors that keep us stuck.
However difficult the circumstances of our lives, hope and despair are both attitudes experienced by our minds. When we choose to bring the higher vibration of hope to a situation, we find things begin to shift and change.
I let go of fear, anxiety, and doubt.
I create my world moment by moment, envisioning a better life for myself.
I choose to use my intuition to perceive the world differently.
4. Dreaming the impossible dream
What is it we most long for? Most of us want good relationships, a comfortable home, a rewarding career, good health, but probably much more besides—and there's nothing wrong with that! We're all entitled to dream, we don't need permission, and neither do we have to prove anything. Basically, we want what will make us happy.