HOPE – Page 16 – Daily Muse

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast; Man never Is, but always To be blest:The soul, uneasy and confin’d from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come.”~ Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man

Recently I was asked “how does one find hope?”. This is a really great question because for me hope is one of those things that comes and goes. There are days I’m hopeful and days I feel like giving up. Not everyone is hopeful all the time. In reflecting and meditating on the question to offer an intelligent answer I realized that hope is born from joy and present time. Hope is thinking positive and knowing you have options!

Hope is about Having Options!

Certainly there is no hope if you fear you have no options. There are always options! With your energy in the present you open doors and allow spirit to show you those options. If you have no hope or feel like you’ve lost all hope, what happened is at some point you gave up or gave in to your situation. Your attention and energy was on the challenge not the solution! If you choose to believe there is nothing more and you can’t move forward you have certainly prophesied your future. The energy of hope gives you the strength to open your mind, think outside of the box and try different things. If you have exhausted all options due to disease or chronic pain you still have the option to live your life to its fullest by finding things that bring joy to your heart and give you hope. The reason I mentioned there are always options is because in the world today new solutions to health issues are discovered and uncovered every day. Don’t ever give up hope that a new option might very well come your way!

Abandon Hope?

One of my spiritual teachers always used to say “abandon hope”. He always laughed when he said it. I always understood that to mean “give it up”. Not GIVE UP but give IT up. In other words let it go. Focusing solely on hope and not letting it go keeps you stuck in the hope and not open to receiving the answer by allowing it to come to you. What if hope is the means to actualize the answer? Hope can shift your energy from deep despair to hopeful optimism. Find just one little shred hope, shift your energy then open yourself up to receiving. You never know when the thing that’s right for you will find its way to you. It might be just around the corner so don’t ever give up!

Hope Springs Eternal in the Present

Hope flows within you like a clear, crisp mountain stream and all you need do is drink from its waters to revitalize yourself. Hope gives you the strength to move forward and do what you need to do. Without hope you lie stagnant, in despair and isolated in pain. When there is lack of hope you will notice your energy is caught up in past events or worrying about a future which may never come to pass. How many times have you been so caught up in past or future events that when you finally come to the present you have to ask “where did the time go?”. It’s interesting to note that when you wake up you notice how much energy you expended and where it felt like there was NO solution you find MANY solutions and options!

Allow hope to act like a free-flowing mountain stream. Giving up is building a dam to stop the waters. As in the picture on this post mountain waters flow around the rocks and those same rocks will eventually be smoothed out and worn down by the strong flow of water. Hope gives you strength in the present. Finding hope is not always easy but if your energy is in the present and you find just ONE thing that brings you joy, hope is ignited and the flame will burning brightly to light up many options which in turn bring you more hope! Here’s to a new day full of HOPE!~Shine Your Light Debbie

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Aurora Borealis, the colored lights seen in th... — Aurora Borealis, the colored lights seen in the skies around the North Pole, the Northern Lights, from Bear Lake, Alaska (Photo credit: Beverly & Pack)

I’m deeply saddened and rocked to the core by the horrific event which took place in Aurora, Colorado. Life is a blessing and it’s difficult to find meaning in a senseless act of violence. When something like this happens we tend to ask why or what was the motivation behind it but instead of asking why, maybe we should focus on the messages from the survivors, the victims and their families. Over and over we hear them say how precious life is. There is a wake up call for all of us which comes from this tragic, senseless moment in time.

Precious lives were lost and the lives of those who lost loved ones or were touched in some way by this event are forever changed. We as a nation rally around to send love, support and healing. We grieve with them and try to make sense of it all but are we listening and taking to heart the messages they are giving us? Let us listen and apply their messages to our own lives to honor those who lost theirs; Life is a blessing and a gift and to live each day as if it was your last.

Tragedies have the ability to open your eyes so you can re-evaluate what’s important in life. There are even those who survive to give you messages before they take their next step. Listen to what the survivors and families are saying and apply it to your life! They are sending messages loud and clear…every moment of your life is a blessing, it is precious and you never know when you will take your last breath. Are you living life to its fullest or are you caught up in struggle and negativity? Let us all find meaning and not let the messages go unheeded. Let us honor those who escaped death in one instance to bring us messages of life. Perhaps this was the very purpose they needed to fulfill before leaving this earthly plane.

Jessica Ghawi an aspiring journalist left a food court in an Eaton Toronto mall just moments before a gunman opened fire. On June 6th, 2012 she wrote a blog called “Late Night Thoughts on the Eaton Center Shooting”. She wrote about life as a blessing. “I say all the time that every moment we have to live our life is a blessing. So often I have found myself taking it for granted. Every hug from a family member. Every laugh we share with friends. Even the times of solitude are all blessings. Every second of every day is a gift. After Saturday evening, I know I truly understand how blessed I am for each second I am given.” Little over a month later she was killed in the Aurora Colorado theater. Take to heart and find meaning in her message. Live your life as if “every second of every day is a gift”

Nathen Taylor, a former U.S. Army Sargent served three tours of duty in the Middle East and was shot to death for no reason at all while sitting in a car in Lancaster, Los Angeles. Is there any meaning at all that he survived war and was shot just sitting in his car visiting a family member? He was blessed to survive and I’m sure his family felt blessed to have him home. Who knows how many lives he saved or the lives he touched once he returned home. He returned to fulfill his purpose and although we might not personally know what that purpose was there is meaning in his life and his senseless death.

Hilda Yolanda Mayol worked in a ground floor restaurant in the WTC and escaped death on 9/11/2001. She died merely 2 months later in November when American Airlines Flight 587 crashed killing everyone aboard. What was her message? Whom did she touch? Why did she survive in one instance and not the other? Only she as spirit knows what she came here to do but if we listen to our own hearts we will find our own purpose and fulfill it.

Think about these people and find meaning for yourself. Discover your own purpose. It is time to stop getting caught up in things you cannot control. It is time to let go of worry and enjoy the time you have here. It is time to fulfill your purpose; Live a life filled with love, enthusiasm and joy. Who knows how many lives you’ve touched, how many people you’ve helped or how you affected someone elses life because you passed them on the street and smiled. Enjoy life and live it to its fullest. Life is a blessing and a gift. Honor it and live it…you never know when you might take your last breath.~Shine Your Light Debbie

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