7 Ways to Strengthen Hope in Your Life
To Have Hope in Hard Times is What We All Need. Thankfully We Have Ways to be More Hopeful About the Future and Life.
Do you often find yourself struggling to see any meaning or purpose in your day-to-day activities?
Do you want to break out of bad habits but can’t find the desire to do so?
At certain moments, hope might seem like a vague word with perhaps little to no relevance to your life.
The truth is that all of us at one time in our life have experienced those times when hope seemed forever absent in our life.
Before we discuss how you can begin to see the possibilities to be hopeful in your life, let's understand that many times our feeling of hopelessness is triggered by the lie from Satan:
"No one could understand how hopeless I feel."
But did you know what God is speaking in such moments?
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.” - Isaiah 40:28-29
In the light of the above verse, let’s stay motivated with this message by Rick Warren:
"What gives me the most hope every day is God's grace; knowing that his grace is going to give me the strength for whatever I face, knowing that nothing is a surprise to God."
Here Are the 7 Ways to Strengthen Hope in Your Life
1) Give yourself some credit - acknowledge your successes
When life has gotten you on the ropes and you feel beaten down, it's difficult to see your past successes.
If you're feeling like you're not good at anything, I'm here to tell you you're wrong. You have plenty of success stories and accomplishments. All you have to do is tear down the wall of hopelessness and bring them out.
The best way to turn this feeling around is to make a list of all your strengths and accomplishments.
Do you get up and go to work every day? Give yourself a point.
Do you have someone in your life you consider a friend? Give yourself another point.
Someone who loves you? More points.
Did you survive giving birth to a baby? Give yourself 1000 points.
You get the idea.
Make a list of all your successes and congratulate yourself.
Giving yourself some love is one of the best ways to turn things around and strengthen your skills in being more hopeful.
2) Build relationships
We are the average of the five people we associate with.
If you're surrounded by people who are depressed and unmotivated, they will squeeze that last bit of hope out of you.
Instead surround yourself with supportive and capable people. Hang around with those who help you feel good and encourage you to be your best. Nurture a network of friends who share your interests and goals. Look to join communities of people who strive to be more helpful.
Become a role model for others. If you begin acting in a hopeful manner, even if you are feeling down, you will actually become hopeful in the process.
3) Do something fun
If you want to develop your sense of hope, then start doing things you love to do.
Cooking, gardening, playing a sport, exercising or taking walks. Anything which gives you pleasure will pull you out of the dumps and build an attitude of hopefulness.
Not sure what to do?
Try out some new things. Take a class. Learn a new skill. Start a new hobby.
4) Volunteer
Get involved in a cause which interests you by volunteering your time.
Volunteering is a great way to become more hopeful. It can be fun and will get you out in the community where you can meet new people and develop new friendships.
Getting involved with something new will help you feel less alienated and alone. Sometimes it helps put problems in perspective. After all, there are a lot of people out in the world who have it worse than you do. Sad to say this but seeing what others go through in life can make you more hopeful.
5) Mix it up. Get out of your comfort zone
Always staying within your comfort zone can make life just a bit too predictable. We need a certain amount of unpredictability in our life to be our happiest. Getting out of your comfort zone will rewire your brain and help you become more hopeful.
How can you do this?
Start by driving a different way to work. Try playing restaurant roulette and try a new place to eat. Hang out with co-workers.
Just break up the monotony and do something different. Anything.
6) Journaling
Keeping a journal and writing things down is a great way to understanding your feelings of hopelessness.
Find a comfortable place where you can be alone preferably after morning meditation and Bible study. Just 20 minutes of free-form writing.
No editing. Just write.
Write about how you're feeling, what you're thinking about. What keeps you up at night.
You can also use this time to keep track of your goals.
Keep a gratitude diary and write down 3 things you're grateful for.
Do this every day and you will see a definite improvement in your sleep, your health, and your hopefulness.
7) Take care of yourself
When we feel hopeless our natural instinct is to crawl into bed with a blanket over our head. But assuming you are an otherwise healthy human being, you need to get out of bed and start doing something.
First, start by exercising. It doesn't matter what you do, but get moving. Take a walk - do anything - but get your body moving. Try to get at least 20 minutes of some form of moderate exercise every day.
Next, eat healthy foods. Stay away from junk foods and fast food. Make healthy, natural food choices and you will begin to see major changes in your outlook.
Drink water. Did you know most of the time we eat because we think we're hungry when we're actually just thirsty? Drink more water and you won't eat as much. That idea alone should give you hope.
Get some rest. Turn off the television, your mobile phone, the tablet, video games...and start to go to sleep earlier each day.
Relax. Listen to music you enjoy. Light a candle. Take a bath. Breathe deeply.
How Will You Be More Hopeful Starting Today?
Doing even some of the 7 things above will help you to develop a sense of hope. When you take good care of yourself, you are rewiring your mind and sending signals to your brain that you deserve to be happy and treated well.
However, on top of these practical ways, keep studying the Word of God for renewing your hope for your future and life. With MemLok studying and retaining the scriptures have never been more easier.
Now get out there and be hopeful!
How?
The 7 Ways plus the MemLok Mobile App is your recipe.
“This is truly the lazy man's way of doing Scripture memory! It's my 350th week using MemLok and it has changed the way I live my Christian Life! I currently disciple men in two small groups and challenge them regarding Scripture memory." Scott
Check out the MemLok store for special offers.
Some Legacy MemLok Notebooks still available. You know, memory "cards"!
NEW! MemLok Web app. Review anywhere you have Internet. MAC, Amazon Fire etc. Synchronized with your Mobile app.