The importance of HOPE (in a world that sometimes can feel hopeless)
I’m a "word" person. I have always been fascinated with words. I used to grab my thesaurus and look up synonyms and antonyms for words. Just for fun. (I know…it’s strange – don’t judge).You know how every once in a while, you will have that experience where you hear a certain song a few times or see a certain person or car a few times, or hear a phrase or word a few times and feel like the universe is trying to tell you something? I have this happen from time to time and usually try to settle into it to see what the message might be for me.Recently, the word I have heard over and over is HOPE.And so, being the word-person that I am, I began looking into the word HOPE.
You probably won’t be surprised to know the word hope means “longing; dream”
I think we often think of the word hope as being related to longing for something or dreaming of something.I love so many of the synonyms for hope:
- Anticipation
- Aspiration
- Desire
- Expectation
- Faith
- Optimism
- Promise
- Wish
- Reverie
Sidenote: (oh.my.goodness. This word, Reverie. Can we just commit to using this beautiful word more frequently in our day-to-day language?? What a beautiful word! If we could all just sit in “reverie” once a week or so…I think the world would be a better place for sure!!)Those synonyms for hope are so important to use with our kids. Daily. Multiple times a day. To show them the importance dreaming for something. But more than that, not just saying the word "hope", but actually modeling hope. Modeling the excitement and anticipation of something you are dreaming about. And then modeling the persistence it takes to reach those dreams and goals that you have hoped for. This last part can be challenging, but is an important part in showing our kids that hope can be the fuel to achieving dreams.After watching the news or feed on social media, I sometimes find myself falling into hopelessness. "What is happening to our country?" "What is making so much evil in our world?" or similar thoughts. Perhaps these thoughts might cross your mind from time to time as well. But I truly believe we, as parents and teachers, have the ability to change that with our words and actions. We can encourage conversation about HOPE!Ask your kids, what do they HOPE happens next week? What do you DREAM about being next year (or 5 years) or 10 years!? Take time to be explicit in your conversations about dreams and hope (beyond "what do you want to be when you grow up?").Share below what you learn!! And #makewordsmatterforgood!