As Time Goes By

Illinois Department on Aging 2nd Annual Adult Protection and Advocacy Conference

Keeping Hope and Heart Alive in Difficult Times: Challenges for Service Providers

August 22, 2014Marty Richards, MSW, LICSW

Attributes of Hope

Hope as a transcendent process
Hope as a rational thought process (goals, resources, active process, control, time)
Hope as a relational process
Hope as a spiritual process Farrran, Herth & Popovich

Keeping Heart is Keeping Hope

”Cor” is Latin for heart
It is the root of encourage and courage.
Keeping good courage keeps reasonable hope alive.
Serve rather than “help” to maintain a balance and sense of reciprocity.

“We do not serve the weak or the broken. What we serve is the wholeness of each other and the wholeness of life.” Rachael Naomi Remen

Reflections on Hope

“HOPE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS

THAT PERCHES IN THE SOUL

AND SINGS THE TUNE WITHOUT THE WORDS

AND NEVER STOPS AT ALL.

AND SWEETEST IN THE GALE IS HEARD

AND SORE MUST BE THE STORM

THAT COULD ABASH THE LITTLE BIRD

THAT KEEPS SO MANY WARM.

I'VE HEARD IT IN THE CHILLEST LAND

AND IN THE STRANGEST SEA

YET NEVER IN ETERNITY

IT ASKED A CRUMB OF ME.

HOPE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS

THAT PERCHES IN THE SOUL

AND SINGS THE TUNE WITHOUT THE WORDS

AND NEVER STOPS AT ALL." Emily Dickenson

”Hope Changes” Hospice

“There is no such thing as a hopeless situation. There are only people who have gotten hopeless about it.” Claire Booth Luce

“Hope is not about believing that we can change things…Hope is about believing that what we do makes a difference.” Vaclav Havel

“Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.” Lin Yutang

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of

it.” Helen Keller

“Hope is believing in spite of the evidence, and watching the evidence change.” Jim Wallis

“Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the

certainty that something makes sense no matter how it turns out.” Vaclav Havel

“Hope also fosters more favorable appraisal of our ability to overcome obstacles. Hope retains a sense of the possible to overcome obstacles.” Kathleen Fischer

‘Hope is something we do rather than something we possess.

Hope is not a possession, but a perspective-a disposition-a way of being.

When we say we have hope, we mean to say that we are capable of hoping...

Finding hope is never a solitary experience...

Hoping is an act of mutuality.” Herbert Anderson

"Hope means to keep living amid desperation and to keep humming in the darkness.

Hope is knowing there is love: It is trust in tomorrow:

It is falling asleep and waking again when the sun rises.

In the midst of a gale at sea it is to discover land

In the eyes of another it is to see that he understands you.” Henri Nouwen

"Hope is an act of collaboration. It cannot be achieved alone. We offer grains or fragments of hope to one another so that everyone’s sense of possibility can grow.

In this way we can do together what might seem impossible alone.” Kathleen Fischer

Maintaining HOPE in your Life

1.Live in the present and trust in tomorrow.

Remember your reality, but try not to let yourself become overwhelmed by it.

Reflect on a life challenge that seemed insurmountable but has resolved.

Develop healthy strategies for getting through tough times.

Remind yourself that hope is more than optimism and wishful thinking.

Reach out to someone in need, someone who has less hope than you do.

Work toward your goals and follow your dreams, knowing that both require action.

Get professional help if your find yourself in despair.

List ten people that assist you in feeling hopeful. Contact them.

Don’t give up on yourself or God, Higher Power, Great Spirit.

Adapted from Hope: It’s More than Wishful Thinking compiled and introduced by Ann Lyles Wilson. Nashville: Fresh Air Books, 2010.

Reflections on Hope