Sometimes hope can be hard to find.  Sometimes when we have had evidence to the contrary, actively choosing hope can feel painful.  

But it’s easier to find hope when we’re in the practice of doing so.  Sometimes something silly helps crack me open – like pondering on the way to spell muscle.  Maybe I’ll have mussels for dinner. 

Sometimes actively looking for hope helps it be easier to choose hope. Not in spite of everything making it hard to do so.  No, we can have the hard too. But we can also choose hope.  

Here’s a practice from soul matters this month to try out.  May it help fuel your hope muscles and serve as a shining star.

Dr. Jamil Zaki researches hope and cynicism. He has identified numerous strategies to help us move from hopelessness and pessimistic views to hope and optimistic views of life and others. One of the most effective of  those strategies is what he calls “positive gossip.” It’s all about publicly pointing out good deeds, spreading positive tales about strangers you’ve encountered and lifting up underrecognized admirable qualities of those close to you. Zaki says this simple habit radically alters not only our attention but others’ as well, decreasing our  innate negativity bias and expanding the ability of all of us to be open to the goodness that surrounds us. By altering our attentional patterns, this “good gossip” literally causes us to live in a more hopeful world.     So, here’s your challenge: For one week, keep an eye out over the course of your day for one example of being touched by the kindness, generosity, or goodness of another person. And then find a different person to “gossip” about it too. Along the way, notice how others react to your positive gossip. Do they welcome it or does it throw them off? Also notice your own reactions. Does sharing positive gossip feel natural or awkward? And, at the end of the week, see if you notice any trends or shifts, in you or the circles in which you share your anticynical scuttlebutt.  

(p.s. To hear Dr. Zaki say a bit more about positive gossip, go to minute 25:25 of this video.) 

With you in choosing hope, your director of religious education,

Ebee Bromley