Hope
It is very difficult on many different levels to hear the news about horrific events such as last month’s Virginia Tech shootings. In addition to mourning for all of the victims and their families, one tends to mourn for the human family in general. Questions arise regarding the human capacity for cruelty, the stability of individuals and society, and the security of each individual (including our own selves) in our society. In the face of such senseless violence, it is easy to become fearful and to predict bleak, negative scenarios for the future. In general, it becomes easy for us to lose hope for a sane and peaceful world. Ironically, however, it is at a time like this we need to respond in just the opposite way. It is more critical than ever that we each strengthen our resolve to believe in—and have hope for—the kind of world we want and not feed our energies into the kind of world we fear. Appropriately, the theme this month at Being Yoga is “hope.” Please read on about hope:
The most important thing to remember about “hope” is that it is grounded in reality. Despite all the things we read about in the news, there are more reasons to be hopeful than not. When you stop to think about it, there are more people in the world who are consciously working to make this world a better place to live. There are more compassionate people working to find solutions and cures, to build peace, to educate, to feed and to sustain life then there are those who are striving for the opposite. Unfortunately our media thrives on emphasizing the negative, and we are constantly being bombarded with news and images that can make us recoil, believe the worst, and give up hope. By giving up hope, however, we only contribute to exactly that which we don’t want. We become suspicious and fearful and therefore defensively isolate ourselves and others. By staying hopeful, however, we can stay connected and involved in contributing to life and all the positive actions that sustain it. We can maintain peace within our own selves and spread that sense of peace to others.
There are things we can do to buoy up our resolve to maintain hope. We can become actively involved in a positive cause. We can consciously focus on the good and the beauty around us (all very abundant—especially here in the Bay Area). We can involve ourselves with grounding, centering practices such as yoga and meditation. We can reach out and help our neighbors and our communities. We can stay peaceful within—resisting the temptation to give into fear and let go of hope. With hope we can contribute to the goodness of life and influence those around us to do the same.