Living through the storm

Hope Filled Life

In this time of COVID–19 pandemic crisis, lockdown restrictions, online, home schooling and unrest, financial and health concerns, the battle between pessimism and positive optimism and between fear and hope, become more significant and extreme as we go about our daily lives, constrained from living “normal” lives.

Optimistic thinking, or what I will call hope-filled thinking, is a key to our personal well-being.

Each of us have a propensity towards positive or negative thinking and especially when our circumstances engender a "fight or flight" response. We are wired to survive and often this comes by instinctively preparing our reactions. Such control can overtake with extreme pessimism, anxiety, and fear.

Hope is a sometimes elusive idea and a highly personal concept. It is that ability to keep fighting when life is at its worst.

Another word for hope is resilience, and below are penned some thoughts and practical ideas how we might maintain and increase Hope.

So what can we do?

1. Control what you can control and don’t waste time, brain power and conversations around what you can’t control!

Practical considerations:

1. There is a lot of news, media reports, discussions about Covid-19. Some is even fake.

Make sure the information that you are imbibing is accurate from trusted sources.
Limit the amount of news, divisive commentary, and statistics you consume.

Negative thinking around these topics only increases anxiety and fear.

2. You can learn from what has already happened, but you can’t control or change it!

Limit your amount of talking about the news. Reminding your friends and family how bad things are doesn’t really help you or them!
Be realistic and prudent in your planning because your future is something you can impact.

3. Follow the guidance of health and Government. Ignoring guidelines puts you at risk, and if others observe unsafe actions, it can provoke additional fear in them.

Social distancing, staying home during lockdown or whilst social distancing and following other guidelines during this crisis are ways we can put other people first.

4. Finally, we can increase our positive, hope-filled thinking:

Consider planning activities to look forward to then thinking and talking about those things.
Schedule times for fun activities with the household all together.
Scheduled “check-in” times with family and friends over Zoom,® Skype,® or FaceTime.

We only have so much “thinking capacity,” and when you focus it positively on future plans, you reduce anxiety over aspects of the future you can’t control.

So above all, guard the affections of your heart,

( thoughts, will, discernment, and affections.)

for they affect all that you are.
Pay attention to the welfare of your innermost being,

for from there flows the wellspring of life.

Proverbs 4:23

More positive thinking and talk with others, decreases anxiety and increases our ability to focus on what really matters—actually “being present” in our relationships. Hope-filled thinking increases personal well-being. It also has health benefits as this type of thinking improves our immune system, and enriches our relationships! It’s a big deal!

Chill + Relax

In a stress-filled world, many things are simply beyond our control—like the weather, how others behave, and even whether or not pandemics happen!

Mental stress activates the nervous system, signalling the body to go into “fight-or-flight” mode.

During this reaction, stress hormones are released and you may experience physical symptoms

such as a faster heartbeat, quicker breathing.

Deep breathing can help activate the nervous system which controls the relaxation response. It focuses our thoughts on our action and away from the stresses, anxieties and fears around us, and consuming our thoughts. The goal of deep breathing is to focus awareness on breathing, making it deeper and slower.

There are many different techniques to do this but one simple one if offered below:

It simply involves exhaling to a count of four, holding your lungs empty for a count of four, inhaling at the same pace, and holding air in your lungs for a count of four before exhaling and beginning the pattern again.

Repeat the pattern for 5-minutes. Focussing on your breathing and count slows your pace and brings calm.

If you practice the technique regularly, you can extend the pattern to 5 seconds, then 6 seconds, etc.

Defining Hope

Hope can be defined as trust, wanting something to be true, desire with expectation of fulfilment, and confidence. In psychology, it is described as resilience or the ability to bounce back from adverse circumstances.

One theory sees hope as an action more than just a state of being. It has been found that hope allows the brain to change signals, blocking pain and accelerating healing. - The contrary is also true: hopelessness actually changes the brain!

Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God.

Psalm 146:5

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

Romans 15:4

The Bible encourages us to cultivate Hope -

so there are actions we can pursue

Focus

Where we focus our attention truly matters if we want to live a hope filled life. Philippians 4:8 tells us to think about those things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praise-worthy. The thoughts we think, influence the way we feel for better or for worse. This is one place we can take action towards hope. We can choose to think about the right things. Does that mean we will never think sad or hopeless thoughts? - No, but we should re-centre our thoughts as quickly as we can.

Assignment

Look at the Philippians passage and note those things that inspire you in each of these categories.

If you have a bad day, return to your journal writing and express those truths allowing yourself to feel the truth of those statements and re-focus your attention and re-kindle hope.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever

is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy

—think about such things.

Philippians 4:8

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

Relationships

Hope is also boosted by our relationships

Every healthy relationship requires communication including our relationship with God.

Relationships with others require communication and honesty with one another in a similar way.

Assignment

We need to give thanks for His provision and presence..

We need to be open and ask, building relationship of trust and vulnerability with God

and others.

We need to listen to God by Word and Spirit.

We need to know both our, and God`s identity.

Experiences with God and Others

Experiences, both positive and negative can have a great influence

on our lives. Relationships are often built on the back of shared experiences, for better or for worse.

To have a deep and abiding relationship with God, like that of the Biblical characters, we need to make room in our lives for experiences with God. These can be our daily disciplines of prayer and Bible reading, and church attendance, ministry and service

and more. The key is to be open to hearing from God and seeing

Him in our circumstances. This helps us to learn through experience and put our trust in Him, our creator and our hope.

Assignment

Reflect on some of your life changing experiences and how they have made you the person you are today.