Hope

I think the reason I wanted this blog to be from a positive perspective, is partly what I do for a living. As a counsellor, I hear people's pain almost every day. I love what I do, though - mainly because it is so encouraging to see people move from a place of pain and difficulty, to a place of feeling empowered and strengthened to make change in their lives. And the conclusion I have come to about all that is it seems almost impossible to move to that place of empowerment without a sense of hope of some kind. We can find hope from many different sources. For me, my hope comes largely out of my faith. But I have often been amazed to see the creativity and resourcefulness that people use to find sources of hope for themselves.

Recently, my daughter Sierra, had a school assignment in which she needed to ask an adult in her life what their favorite poem was and why. She asked me, and I remembered a poem I've loved since I was a kid, but hadn't thought about for some time. This is that poem:


Hope is the thing with feathers
by Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I ’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Even as a kid, I understood that it was that sense of hope that kept the poet "warm" and gave her strength that she needed in difficult times. It spoke to me of a deep truth that I knew was shaping my view of life at that time.

Sometimes, in the darkest of circumstances, there is a flicker of hope that "perches in our soul". Sometimes we understand the source, and sometimes not. But, it is the deep sense within ourselves that things will be okay, and that we will find a way through a difficult time. When it is hard to find that for ourselves, that is the time to lean on others and ask them to help us find that hope. There are times when clients have difficulty finding it for themselves that I ask them if they will let me carry the hope for them for awhile until they are ready to pick it up for themselves. And... they get there.

It is my prayer for you that, as we start a new year, that this coming year be one that fills you with hope for the future and provides you with many opportunities to share that hope with others. You never know when that gives someone just what they need in that moment. Many blessings for the new year!