topic A pocket full of hope in Staying well

A pocket full of hope

Bard — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 07:52:54 GMT

WHAT is the most inspiring/encouraging/empowering/motivating thing that anyone has said to you which has made a difference in your life, especially if it's a touchstone you come back to in hard times??

A pocket full of hope

Neil_1 — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 02:54:07 GMT

"You can do it - you've done it before and you can do it again". That's probably more a cliche though and something that perhaps a lot of us have heard down through the years.

Bard, you're probably after a different range of responses.

Have you got any to kind of get us going on this thread??

Neil

A pocket full of hope

SubduedBlues — Sun, 24 Aug 2014 10:29:56 GMT

The best thing about pain is that its presence lets me know that I am still alive.
When all hope is lost, I can't help but hope that hope will return.
Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do.
The easiest way to forget about one's woes is to listen to someone else tell you about theirs
Being alone is better than being filled with despair
No matter how bad it may seem, it can always be worse
There are always choices, sometimes the other choice may be undesirable, but the choice is still there
Why are you afraid of the dark? When you turn out the lights, pull the blankets over your head, and close your eyes tight, the only thing you can see is you. So I ask you again, why are you afraid of you?

A pocket full of hope

geoff — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 00:14:53 GMT

dear Bard, a very inspiring question, which could change over time or even daily.

Well at the moment it's 'thank you so very much for helping me what would I ever do without you'. Geoff.

A pocket full of hope

geoff — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 03:12:28 GMT

dear Bard, can I go the other way, the biggest disappointments, which we all have before any inspiring remarks, and there are so many, but 'do you know that I'm already married' or 'the hours that you keep is when I am just starting to party', so they don't suit me.

Wow straight to the jugular, but it's happened to me many times, so I have to move on. Geoff.

A pocket full of hope

Asche — Mon, 25 Aug 2014 03:56:54 GMT

"Where hope falters, purpose prevails."

I see a lot of people here (and also everywhere else) putting a great amount of emphasis on sustaining hope and keeping your chin up when times are down. And I agree completely. Hope is fantastic. It energizes the spirit and can provide new vigor to old and tired bones. It can even make a person find the joy of life again.

But it is also in the nature of hope to be flighty. That's what makes it so hard, because it means risking something, something dear on a prospect that you're not quite certain will come true.

Purpose is different. For me, to have purpose is to have determination, to have drive, to be motivated to keep going to make something true, even if you're tired and broken and your muscles are all strained to breaking. Especially if you're tired. It can't give you the energy or happiness that a fulfilled hope provides, but what it will do, is force you to keep going, to force you to keep moving forward. And it will hurt. And you will be tired. But every now and again you can look back to when you first started and think "Wow. I did that? Holy cow, I did that."

Hoping can be hard. It is hard. Having a sense of purpose will keep you moving forward if you can't bring yourself to hope. And you always need to move forward, because stagnation is slow death.

A pocket full of hope

SubduedBlues — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 10:24:24 GMT

My purpose is to hope that I have a purpose of hope. 🙂

Seriously Asche, I really enjoyed reading your post.

A pocket full of hope

gremz — Wed, 27 Aug 2014 11:44:22 GMT

I have my own thing that gets me through the depression rounds:

'The only 2 things that are sure in life are change, and time moving.
Eventually the bad will always turn to good.'

And also 'the only way to fail is to stop trying!'