Happy You!

How “Hope” Can Keep You Happy If You Do It Right

“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.” 
– Dalai Lama"

Now, hope can lead to anxiety! How?  when the things we hoped for and planned for sometimes do not come to pass as we have wished. Becoming fixed on a hope we have in our head, about how we believe our future will transpire, can become a real source of anxiety and suffering rather than happiness.

Why? Because when the plans that we were confident would turn out the way we hoped doesn't play out ,we may find ourselves sinking into unhappiness, and/or anxiety.

We may lose hope in hope.

 Now the question is should we never make plans then?

Of course not.

We can and should make plans. But we should set future goals with the understanding that things might not turn out like exactly like we imagined, and we should strive to have a realistic hope for the future without missing out on the present.

This leads to an effective hope that sustains happiness.

So how can we develop a more realistic understanding of hope? 

If hope, is to “sustain happiness,” that is, it has to be effective, it must be built on the understanding and acceptance of the idea of "not always going the way you want"in life.

We can find hope in the fact that change is inevitable and that we can learn to “go with the flow” and make adjustments accordingly when plans don’t go the way we originally visioned it.

This can be difficult for the individual who has trouble giving up control in their life but once realized and accepted, it can bring hope, happiness, and peace of mind. 

In conclusion, this more realistic view of hope should be a focus of Positive Psychology. It is a hope that is built on the foundational understanding of the reality of how life works, the necessity of present moment living and is the hope that sustains happiness.