I listened to a podcast recently to do with mindfulness. In it were two men talking about hope. One guy had been left in a difficult place with a young family to raise on his own, was self-employed and needed new premises to live and work from. He knew what he would like and kept in his mind the phrase “wouldn’t it be nice if”. Whenever he told friends of his hopes they would come up with a list of negatives and hurdles and he would reply “but wouldn’t it be nice”. He neither forced his ambition to come into fruition nor gave up on his dream, keeping himself open to spot any opportunity that was beneficial. Eventually things slotted into place for him and came good. The phrase stuck with me over the last few weeks, and whenever I got thumped by negativity I played back to myself “but wouldn’t it be nice” and it kept a light on in my mind. That’s what hope does. In the lead up to a UK heatwave, allegedly arriving on Thursday, it is funny how many people have had barbeques this weekend, despite the weather being pretty cloudy. Having hope for the future does not rob today of its fun but allows contentment and calm.
