Vince Mercuri: The dynamics of hope

Artists, marketing experts, campaign strategists and spiritual leaders all utilize hope as a means to promote their respective messages to influence their audiences.

Definitions of hope can be quite abstract. Is it optimism? Is it a wish? Is it a goal? Is it a belief? Is it motivation?

The definition differs depending on the person and his or her perspective and needs at different stages of life. Regardless of one’s definition or stage of life, a healthy sense of hope has a positive effect on mood and functioning. Better health outcomes have been reported both physically and mentally in individuals who state they have a high level of hope.

An optimistic attitude inherent in hopeful individuals plays a key role in successfully coping with medical/psychological illness and its prognosis, as well as improving overall quality of life. People with a positive sense of the future and resilience perceive obstacles as challenges to overcome and are therefore able to utilize their optimism to plan alternatives to achieve goals and overcome hardships.

Many studies have found that hope is positively correlated with life satisfaction and serves as a buffer against the impact of negative and stressful life events.

Individuals with high levels of hope tend to show better athletic, academic, relational, occupational and physical health outcomes. This ability to adapt and respond to life events, stress and adversity without undue despair, with a bounce-back mentality, leads to behaviors that result in a stronger, wiser and empowered person.

By contrast, low levels of hope have been linked to depression, low self-esteem, difficulty in interpersonal relationships and an increased risk of suicide. Psychologist Dr. Charles R. Snyder linked hope to the existence of a goal combined with a determined plan for reaching that goal. As a specialist in positive psychology, Snyder studied how hope and forgiveness can impact such aspects of life as health, work, education and personal value.

Snyder proposed these three categories of hopeful thinking:

• Goals — approaching life in a goal-oriented way

• Pathways — finding different ways to achieve goals

• Agency — believing that you can instigate change and achieve these goals

Snyder’s hope theory says individuals who are able to realize these three components and develop a belief in their own ability are hopeful people who can establish clear goals, imagine multiple workable pathways toward those goals and persevere even when obstacles get in their way.

Hope is also key to spiritual attainment. Faith and hope are closely linked. While faith is believing and trusting in someone who is unseen, hope is a deep sense of knowing that they’re there to even believe and trust in. It is the belief in what could be. Hope refines what is probable and opens the path to the impossible.

Our pathways of hope may be individualized, diverse, abstract and gray, but what is clear is that this character quality, if nurtured, developed and attained, will have a profound positive influence on our overall physical, emotional, relational and spiritual well-being.

The acronym HOPE — Having Opportunities Possible Everyday — can promote a mindset that will open doors to let the light of a brighter tomorrow shine every day.