How to maintain hope?

Had interesting talk with an interesting person today... it turned into list of why the world sucks.

Why we may as well be doomed.

I am not even sure if it's worth it trying to maintain hope and faith in humanity. It seems like... nobody cares. For nothing of importance.

Coelho's Veronika, in Veronika decides to die... wrote in her good-bye letter about how nobody knows where Slovenia is. It strikes chord with me. I do find it frustrating that many don't know not only where peaceful and relatively well off Slovenia is (Slovenia is like a good world citizen, who never gets in trouble, so nobody cares for them...), but that many probably have no idea about Sarajevo either. Or Kosovo. Rwanda and Darfur... we move on from "never forget" so damn quickly.

THere is nothing one can do to wake the world up from apathy. And it's painful realization for somebody who wanted to "save the world" once, when I was very young.

We admire people with questionable morals, if they are sucessful. Vote for lesser of two evils (when there's plenty of non-evil around) and laugh at idealists.

Words of hope sound cliche, like a bumper sticker. We either cheapened it down, or it's mere words, a lie we tell to make ourselves go on...

I want to believe. I really do want... but sometimes it feels like... what for?

Quote:

I want to believe. I really do want... but sometimes it feels like... what for?

Venus, I can't answer for anyone else, but I chose to have a hopefull outlook because it helps me get out of bed in the morning and face the world. My outlook will may or may not effect the rest of the world, but it gives me incentive to live my life. Who knows, maybe my chosing to go out into the world will create a ripple effect sending out waves of hope in the world?

Struggling with the exact same thing you are...& I wish I had the answers!

i don't really have an anser for you.

i guess if everyone in the world stopped being hopeful then their would be no point in any of us living anymore- i think we're all a little bit hopeful, even if not much.

To me the world is full of beauty. I see hope everywhere. Depression causes the sky to darken and the world to be a dull grey. I see miracles, laughter, birds and deer, stars and planets.......I see flowers blooming, the colors of fall, the laughter of the Children at Christmas......the sunset, the sun rise...maybe you are looking at the wrong things!

I guess this is what keeps me going on. I wanna be a seed-sower. But right now I am feeling like planting my seeds on concrete. Or near Chernobyl.

(of course... plants grow through concrete. And in the no-go zone around Chernobyl).


I do think I have valid reasons to feel the way I feel. It's not "depression lying to me". I don't really wanna be "happy" at cost of ignoring what really goes on.

Yes, there are miracles and places of beauty. But most of the things you named is not really something man-made, so not sure how can they restore faith in humanity in me. I don't wanna go full on cynical... but it seems a lot of tragedies happened in places of beauty (Kosovo or Bosnia have the most beautiful mountains I seen...). All these things don't prevent... the bad going on.

I don't know. And I don't even know if I wanna change the way I feel. I am just sad tonight. Or mad as hell. I wish I could use it somehow... to do something.

You know we do what we can...we try to make a difference...and in a small way we do make a difference. I have to believe that the things I have done did make a difference. I grew up with the Cuban Missle crisis, Vietnam and etc...then became a welfare caseworker. I did help. Was it enough? Of course not..not by a long shot! I have to believe in hope though, and my grandchildren and so many others to change things.!!..granddaughter is a freshman at college.....she needs to have hope...The bad things will always exist as long as there are humans walking the planet, but the good that has come from some of them as been awesome.....medical advance, advances in physics etc.......there is good.....we can't neglect the bad for without looking at the bad, we cannot fix it......so we go on...one day at a time.....making our own small differences, and things do change...slowly...

don't forget the tennis player djokovic. he came out of war and hunger to be an incredible tennis player. as did andy murray, survivor of a school massacre. these little miracles have to make you believe in the human spirit.

I don't have much use for hope anymore, it always seems to bring with it crushing dissapoinments. Nothing really motivates me to keep going, right now i am just trying to feel better myself and maybe find some reason.

My dearest Venus,

Keep planting the seeds of good and good will grow!

Venus, I understand (I think) where you are coming from. When I was younger, I used to look at the big world and feel very much the same way you are feeling. Of course back then, we didn't have internet or instant news. Sometimes I think that knowing everything from around the world so quickly can be devastating to us as a human race.

I felt overwhelmed by the thought of making my mark and wondering how was I going to be able to make a difference that was worthy of my energies and, would I really be able to make a difference at all.

I came to realize that my thinking was skewed at that time. What I learned as I lived longer and had more life experiences was that I didn't have to think on such a grand scale, I didn't have to make my mark on that grand scale either. I could make changes and help on a much smaller scale, one that wasn't so overwhelming to me.

I have found that by helping one person at a time or even one small cause at a time has a ripple effect. Just like sticking your finger in a body of water, large or small, there is always a ripple effect. People very often "pay it forward". And even more than that, when one person is helped, there are inevitably more people touched by that help. First is the person you helped, then another is touched by it that is part of that persons life, and also you help yourself as well. So, there is that ripple effect.

We were not all made to make huge ripples or waves, most of us in this big wide world are only making small ripples, but they are enough to keep the world going, to keep our hope alive and to make a difference in not only our own lives, but the lives of others.

I do not deny that there is a lot of trouble with this world. But I certainly cannot deny that there are a lot of good people in this world making ripples that make a difference for the good of humanity.

Maybe it is in how we choose to look at things, who knows. All I know is that I feel good about what I can do to help whatever cause I get involved with, whether it be singularly with one person or with many.

Awesome post Sabby!

I work in a profession where it is easy to lose hope. There are days (today is one) when I wonder why I bother doing what I do. Then I think that if I had a positive impact on just one person today I put something good into the world. As those ripples expand and combine with other ripples what might happen?

I also remind myself that in the greater scheme of things most of us are not major cogs in the world, but again, if I have a positive impact on one person I hav done something good for that person. Think of the starfish story - a person is walking along the beach tossing starfish back in the water. Someone asks them why they bother, there's lots of starfish in the world. The person responds it's important to the starfish they saved! I may never have a major impact on the world, but I just might have a effect on one person's life. That is worth the world.

For some people, it is to find fulfillment and richness in life, despite all the negativity that exists and has existed. It is not merely to exist, though there are times when we must, but
like an immaculate connection between two beings the synergy that is created seems miraculous. This is like "how to be happy?" because to maintain hope is waiting, hopefully,
happily. I find that to do the things that will improve the brain's neurotransmitter activity. Many of those exercises(to increase this neurotransmitter activity) can be difficult to be disciplined about, but helps us maintain hope(imho)

I agree with Sabby......as we grow older & maybe realize our limitations & realize more where our lives are given to touch, we realize that the best we can do is touch those lives around us in the most positive way possible & bring happiness to those whose lives we are able to touch. For me, it makes me feel good to help people, or to be there for them when they need to talk. People I don't even know I can touch their lives in a good way.....just being aware of what is around me.....like this man the other night who was trying to push start his car in the parking lot. Taking the time to give him a push with my truck & get his car started rather than thinking I have to get into the store & out & home......don't need to take the extra time.....I would rather take the time. I have come to realize that when someone's life touches mine, there is a purpose even if I don't know what it is.....just touching someone's life in a nice way can make a change in their attitude, then in how their day goes & then in how they react with others that touch their life.......that ripple effect has a wonderful way of working.

Even if we never get the Nobel peace prize, if we can find a way of making a peaceful situation out of something that could turn out otherwise in our own lives.....sometimes it's worth more in the lives of those we touch than something that is more grand in the whole scheme of the world.......& yet not be able to live at peace in our own life.

It is discouraging to see the world go the way it's going & those of less than moral values being the ones who seem to be running the direction that things are going in. Being able to distinguish between the things I have absolutely NO control over & those that I do.....has helped me in many ways have a better understanding of what is & isn't possible.......but the best I can do is live with the moral values I know are right with the people who touch my life.......& be the best example that I can be to the world that touches mine......if each person was able to do this......can you imagine what a wonderful place this world would be.

If we don't look at the good that is around us, then we tend to only look at the bad. We need to be aware so that our life can have the balance that it's intended to have.

I think the world is getting better actually, albeit a little too slow.

I am pretty sure that women are becoming valued as people slowly, slower some places than others. Same sex relationships are becoming accepted, not just tolerated, but welcome. War is becoming less, with less deaths, If you look back in history. Less people are dying at the hands of religion and politics. We are becoming a world that is a lot more open and welcoming to everyone, we are seeing people mixing more and more with other races, and liking it.

Ya not every where, and no we are not there yet, it's real real slow. Too slow, but I believe we are getting somewhere.

I think there is going to be a shift. This admiring people with questionable morals, and what we define as success. I do think that is changing. Tons of people do not hold the values the media tells us we do. I vote for who I think is best, and do not take into account that the two parties who will win, it's the same in my country. If more people vote for the best, not just one of the two because they will win, well someone else would end up winning the vote sooner or later, that's how change happens.

Anyways Venus, that's just how I feel about it. It's hard to see the good, when the bad is all that gets most of the attention. I might be a bit silly, but I do think that where we focus our attention will bring more of the same as we are focused on.

I think that the hope is in each and every individual rather than in any particular piece of history or politician. When will the world wake up? Probably when the world will suffer and have enough of it`s ********...

THere is nothing one can do to wake the world up from apathy. And it's painful realization for somebody who wanted to "save the world" once, when I was very young.
I think a lot of people have gone through that realization. The ones who actually had thoughts of saving the world anyway. I think you wake up to the fact that by and large, the world doesn't want saving really. That was the toughest blow to my idealism.
The people who have tried to change the world... King, Ghandi, etc... the best they could do was change the opportunities available. If you look realistically even they couldn't change the world... just open up new possibilities. What people did with those opportunities was beyond their power.

I'm not sure how to respond to your position on admiring people of questionable morals. What group of people are you talking about? Whose moral values are the criteria based on? Is there some universal morality you have in mind?

I can't imagine laughing at an idealist. I've been criticized for being a realist and pragmatist by people who consider themselves idealists. Isn't that just as bad?Voting for the lesser of evils is all you have to work with usually. If you can't change something then the next best thing is to try to influence it. Maybe you can change it later.To keep believing even though "words of hope" and idealism etc have become bumper sticker slogans is a victory of sorts. You can save your soul at least.What for? That's for each of us to decide. Not to become a permanent and willing part of what you want to change is reason enough to me.

I've often wondered why we are still here and what our world is coming too as well. Why are we here? What is the point of life on earth? I suppose if I knew the answer to that I'd be the richest woman on earth. But I see our world headed for more wars, more famine, droughts, pandemics, etc. I see our technology changing rapidly. Will it reach a peak where we can't go any further? Then what way is there, only down? I watch Life After People and it makes me wonder if something like that is so far fetched. I still see good in my everyday existence, happy things still happen, there is still beauty, but ultimately I still wonder what the point is. We are born, we work, we age, we die. For what? When we die what happens to what we accomplished in life? 100 years down the road no one will remember most of us.

I've practically lost all hope in myself and the thought of a bright future. Hope is **** to me... im sorry.. it used to keep me going.