Create Hope in Minutes
Transcript:
Hi! I’m Sherri Wilson, a strategist, educator, and business consultant. And I’m super excited to visit with you guys today because it’s one of my favorite topics—hope.
What is hope exactly? This is an important question to answer because many think hope is wishful thinking like, “I hope I get that raise” or “I hope I get married next year.” Or whatever else you might wish for your life. But true hope is an expectation of good things that eventually becomes a filter for your thoughts, behaviors, and decisions.
THE MORPHINE EXPERIMENT
Researchers wanted to verify that the human body produces its own pain relieving chemicals similar to morphine in particular endorphins and enkephalins. Volunteers agreed to a cuff being used to apply pressure inducing pain. Wires connected to each volunteer measured heart rate, blood pressure, muscle contraction, and more.
Each volunteer felt pain with corresponding changes in heart rate, blood pressure, etc. Next doctors and research assistants in starched white lab coats injected a clear liquid into the volunteers that believed it was morphine. Pressure was steadily increased but no volunteers felt pain in spite of the solution not being morphine but was instead saline!
Next the researchers injected Naloxone, a drug that blocks receptors from feel good hormones and increases pain. Again, the volunteers were told it was morphine, and, again, they felt no pain proving the power of expectation.
HOPE IS TWO THINGS
As I stated earlier, hope is expectation of good things. But let’s nail down hope even further.
Hope is:
Cognitive: the marshaling of information and data relevant to a desired future event meaning you start collecting the information and data you need to REACH YOUR DESIRED GOAL.
Affective: the comforting, energizing, and elevating feeling when you think about a positive future meaning you feel comfort and you’re elevated when you think about reaching your POSITIVE DESIRED GOAL.
Both of these definitions speak of a process of creating hope by “setting a firm goal and anticipating the reward of living with the dream fulfilled.” (Dr. Groopman).
“Real hope helps you make better decisions.”
hope as a filter
The brain filters out the unnecessary, which is why when you focus on something like buying a specific car, all of a sudden you see them everywhere. Because of how hope works, hope becomes the filter for your decisions because you are focused on a specific, positive goal and anything that takes you away from that goal is dismissed or rejected. Hope also helps you see opportunities that you might not have seen otherwise.
HOPE AS A MOTIVATOR
Hope is intentional. It’s the process of inspiring expectation and belief using cues. Hope is motivational. When you use hope to internally motivate you toward a goal, you have more hope to set more goals. Hope is dependent on a plan and dreams. Planning your future and dreaming of your future is key and helps you make better decisions.
Kirk Ritter of John Hopkins conducted a series of experiments in the 1950’s to see how long rats would swim before drowning. He discovered that they will swim for about 15 minutes. But if he rescued them and dried them off letting them rest some, he found that they would swim for 60 more hours for the hope of being saved again. The rats had a clear picture of what being saved looked like and this energized them to keep swimming.
HOW TO CREATE HOPE
Aspiration Journal. An aspiration journal is a recording of those things you want in your life. There is a condition to what you put in your journal—it must be an 8-10 on a scale of 1-10 meaning you really, really want it. It might be only one thing or several things. But the main filter is it must be an 8-10. Once you figure out the things you want in your life, flesh them out. Write how it will look like once you’ve accomplished them. I alternate between writing out what life looks like once I’ve accomplished my goal or I write a short paragraph that summarizes my goal.
Use a blue pen. Use a blue pen when writing in your aspiration journal because blue is great for remembering what you write.
Learn new things. One of the best ways to inspire hope is by learning new things. For our purposes, I’d suggest that you learn and research those things that will help you reach your goals.
I also use vision boards. I have one in my closet that I view every time I get dressed or undressed. I also have a digital one of similar things on my Macbook’s desktop. I love putting checkmarks on fulfilled goals or taking an item off my closet vision board when I’ve accomplished that goal.
it’s not a mystery
Accomplishing goals isn’t a mystery. It simply requires a willingness to change and a willingness to learn. It also requires harnessing the power of real hope—hope that inspires and motivates. Hope is a science. Create your cues using your aspiration journal and blue pen, learn and research, and plan and dream. That’s it.