Optimism and Hope

Deepak Chopra MD in "The Victory of Hope over Uncertainty"

"The primary qualities of hope are strength, resilience, and optimism. Strength enables you to call upon your own personal power. And to feel secure that this power is real. Resilience means that you can bounce back from disruptions and setbacks. Optimism radiates hope for the future. As you can see, these qualities are the opposite of worry, complaint, and pessimism. Instead of being self-defeating, these deeper qualities enhance one’s self-esteem. If you are strong, resilient, and optimistic enough, you can also lift others out of their self-defeating attitude."

Alice Sidhu, COO of Moonshot

“Optimism = Hope. What is there to be hopeful or optimistic about? The fact that we are even thinking about having this conversation. That we can have it freely and openly. That our views are solicited, considered; they don't necessarily have to be embraced or accepted. It's the engagement and dialogue that matters. And more than this? There is constant talk of change and the impact of this on skills, people and organisations......Is our perspective one of challenge or opportunity? Technology can help problems we have been trying to address for so long in health, education and the environment. Recent examples of emergency response in Puerto Rico have helped expedite recovery. Industries are being transformed and it is all being defined with a UX focus. It's coming quickly and can seem overwhelming. We can focus on that or we can think about new ways to learn, access information, develop new skills and deliver and consume services. A little scary, but if it wasn't we wouldn't be trying hard enough.”

Thomas Merton

"The certainty of Christian hope lies beyond passion and beyond knowledge. Therefore we must sometimes expect our hope to come in conflict with darkness, desperation and ignorance. Therefore, too, we must remember that Christian optimism is not a perpetual sense of euphoria, an indefectible comfort in whose presence neither anguish nor tragedy can possibly exist. We must not strive to maintain a climate of optimism by the mere suppression of tragic realities. Christian optimism lies in a hope of victory that transcends all tragedy: a victory in which we pass beyond tragedy to glory with Christ crucified and risen."

Sam Hoath, Founder of Team Kids

“I think a fundamental reason my business has been quite successful is that I always see the opportunity in things. I always see the brightest side of things. And I think what happens is that optimism becomes infectious in a good way. It provides hope and it provides positivity. And I think the culture in any organization is the most important thing. And if you can share optimism, then that promotes healthy culture positive culture. And I think that’s a key ingredient for success, no matter what you’re looking to do.”

Professor Erwin Loh, Group Chief Medical Officer, St Vincent's Health Australia

“Be an optimist, and be relentless in pursuing the beacon of hope, so that you are always moving towards the light that will guide you, shine on you, and keep the shadows of darkness and despair behind you. You will also make it easier for others to find you, follow you, and be inspired by you. And by moving together in the same positive direction of hope, instead of fear, you can change the world.”

Brendan Moore, Manager Recycled Water at Yarra Valley Water and Co-Founder of Pride in Water.

"My optimism is fuelled by the potential, the wonder, and the possibilities that I encounter in people and situations every day. For me, optimism is synonymous with hope and excitement."

“Optimism is the excitement for what tomorrow will bring, it’s the happiness we get from the relationships we build and it is the light that guides us through our darkest times.”

Rose Jost, Wellbeing Coach

“Optimism is a form of cognitive flexibility, whereby the individual, regardless of their past or current circumstances, is able to see the valley beyond the mountain. Optimists envisage potential in themselves and those around them, pivot around challenge and cultivate an attitude of perseverance. Optimism is deeply human; harnessing collaboration, mobilisation and disruption while acknowledging the full spectrum of experience and emotion. Optimism is not a zero-sum game; it does not require the absence of fear, failure, setbacks or obstacles, rather an agile mindset and a heart full of hope.”

Dr Tammra Warby, Author, “The General Practice Exam Handbook.”

“Optimism to me turns a complete roadblock into a temporary setback. My case for optimism is that as a living expression of hope for the future, it will pull you through the toughest times of your life. Many times in healthcare and through natural disasters, I have witnessed how optimists respond to the worst thing that has ever happened to them. It is a deeply inspiring and admirable quality to view in action.

“Optimists firstly accept the reality of the situation and immediately begin workshopping the problem to solve it. They always ask, ‘What’s next?’. Despite how hard it is to practise gratitude through pain, they remain appreciative of all that is still good in their life. Whether facing devastation or illness, the optimist is already planning their adaptation or recovery. In the midst of the darkest times, they still bring their humour to the situation and find the lighter side. And they don’t give up, emerging from the other end as proof their hope was warranted.”

Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Safran

Contrary to the cynic and pessimist, the optimist has the truer perspective on Judaism. The “glass half full” shows us the power of that period from Rosh Chodesh Elul through the conclusion of the Days of Awe, Shmini Atzeret. When we open up our siddurim, we discover the most optimistic of all Psalms, selected specifically for this awesome period – Psalm 27. The Midrash teaches that the words L’Dovid HaShem Ori, the Lord is my life, refer to Rosh Hashanah while v’yishi, and aid, reflects on Yom Kippur. Ki yitzpeneni b’suko, He will hide me within His tabernacle, speaks of Sukkot.

"A quick glance through the psalm is enough to find all the words that conjure up hope, optimism, happiness and strength. Begin with the first posuk and go through the chapter: light, aid, stronghold, not fear, confident, desire, dwell in the house of the Lord, pleasantness, shelter, safe, high, sing, chant, gracious, seek you My presence, help, care, teach, guide, land of the living, hope, strong, brave.

Fourteen short verses. Twenty – four optimistic words and phrases.

Chris Drake, The Mother and Child Health and Education Trust

“As Alexander Pope put it: "Hope springs eternal in the human breast" and if we shut down hope, optimism and trust in goodness we are shutting down an inherent part of what it means to be a human being, i.e. to envision and then move towards a better tomorrow, with head, heart and hands. Having built our castle in the sky we do then have to lay its foundations on the ground in the muddy realities of today but not to aim for it is to condemn ourselves to it never happening.

“This is not to advocate a blind and naive expectation that there will not be setbacks, difficulties and failures or that we should ignore the benefit, prudence and necessity of precaution, planning, a fallback plan B and sometimes some healthy cynicism but. learning as we go along, we must look ahead with a smile, positivity and confidence if we are to have any chance of building the future we want. We might make it and we not make it, but if we don't try we surely won't.

“Pessimism closes the heart and soul, blinkers the eyes and lowers the head. It shuts off dreams and limits the horizon of possibilities. Optimism opens the heart, lightens up and lifts the spirit, boosts morale and stretches our vision to new realms, forging a bridge from an envisaged future, to which our heart soars, back to the present where we can work to make it happen.”

Dr Paul Cooper, Professor of Health Informatics

“Optimism must be based in your sense of what can best how people and organisations grow. Unbridled, unprincipled optimism is of no use to anyone if, like lemmings, it takes us over a cliff or doesn't lead to growth. A wonderful friend and mentor of mine Thomas Stianos told me years ago that the function of a leader is to provide hope for the future. These days I modify that quote a bit - to me the function of leadership is to ensure an abundance of opportunity for people. It's not enough to give hope, or have hope (unbridled optimism) - you must create the abundance that creates the opportunities for growth. This is hard work especially when things become tough (as they always will at some point). Fortunately, "abundance thinking" encourages people to share, and to give of their own energies and this is turn creates optimism. So breaking all this down, I think you need to first create opportunities for growth, people need to see that, believe in it, and then you can build the abundance. Optimism then flows from that.”

Natasha Josefowitz, ACSW, Ph.D. in her last column

"Expectations are a strong belief about the future. It is something we anticipate, whereas hope is a feeling of optimism, a desire that something will happen. Hope is both a verb and a noun. The opposite of hope is despair or hopelessness. Unfulfilled expectations lead to sadness and disappointment. The importance of expectations is that they lead to beliefs – you believe that something good will happen. You can choose how you think about your future. Imagining a positive future self creates an expectation that results in greater optimism, higher life satisfaction, and well-being."

Jon Meacham in "The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels"

"Fear feeds anxiety and produces anger; hope, particularly in a political sense, breeds optimism and feelings of well-being. Fear is about limits; hope is about growth. Fear casts its eyes warily, even shiftily, across the landscape; hope looks forward, toward the horizon. Fear points at others, assigning blame; hope points ahead, working for a common good. Fear pushes away; hope pulls others closer. Fear divides; hope unifies."

Professor Bruce Hood in 'The Science of Happiness: Seven Lessons for Living Well'

"It is important to clarify that optimism is not the same as hope. Hope is an emotional state most closely related to wishing for important – but less likely – outcomes that are more out of our control. Optimists go further in that they believe outcomes will be better and so work harder, longer and persevere when pessimists give up. This has implications for leading healthier lifestyles and adhering to health recommendations to prevent disease progression."

Arthur C Brooks

"People tend to use hope and optimism as synonyms, but that isn’t accurate. In one 2004 paper in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, two psychologists used survey data to parse the two concepts. They determined that “hope focuses more directly on the personal attainment of specific goals, whereas optimism focuses more broadly on the expected quality of future outcomes in general.” In other words, optimism is the belief that things will turn out all right; hope makes no such assumption but is a conviction that one can act to make things better in some way.

"Hope and optimism can go together, but they don’t have to. You can be a hopeless optimist who feels personally helpless but assumes that everything will turn out all right. You can be a hopeful pessimist who makes negative predictions about the future but has confidence that you can improve things in your life and others’."

Amy Morin in “How to Develop Hope When You Feel Hopeless”

“Hope is also different from optimism. Essentially, optimism is about thinking good things might happen while hope often involves thinking about the action you’ll take to make those good things happen. Optimism involves thinking about positive outcomes, regardless of the role you play. So you might be optimistic that it won’t rain this weekend. But if you have hope, you might hope that you’ll throw a good party even if it does rain.”

Henri J.M. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey

“Optimism and hope are radically different attitudes. Optimism is the expectation that things—the weather, human relationship, the economy, the political situation, and so on—will get better. Hope is trust that God will fulfill God’s promises to us in a way that leads us to true freedom. The optimist speaks about concrete changes in the future. The person of hope lives in the moment with the knowledge and trust that all of life is in good hands.”

The Editors of America, The Jesuit Magazine in " The difference between optimism and hope — and which one Christians should practice"

“In the Christian tradition, optimism is no virtue. To assume things will get better in the end may be helpful for maintaining a positive outlook, but it offers little else. For the Christian, hope is the virtue that lives where optimism claims to abide: trust in the assurance of God’s fidelity and the belief that we can participate in God’s faithful action in the world. For the Christian, hope does not tell us that things will get better, but that in the end, with God, all shall be well. That hope began in Bethlehem with a cold and hungry family of migrants living in a war-torn and occupied land—people with little to be optimistic about, but to whom God gave many signs to ponder.”

Rev. John E. Jackson in "A Series on Hope: The difference between hope and optimism – Part 1"

"There is a difference between optimism and hope. Optimism is grounded in what happens to you. It is founded on the thought that things will eventually change around you to make you feel better about yourself. Hope is grounded in an internal assurance that whatever circumstance you are in, you are still valued by God, you are still cherished by the eternal one and you have a divine destiny vouchsafed to you by the Creator that cannot be diminished by circumstances, cannot be erased by evil and evil people, and cannot be taken away by systems that seek to limit you. Hope is the faucet of joy, and true joy comes from the inside and not the outside."

Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, in "Hope and the love of God: Archbishop Justin's Third Holy Week Lecture."

"I cannot survive unless I come back to the faithfulness of Christ. Optimism is built on sand. But stronger and surer than them all, is the continuous presence in the body of Christ holding out the wounded, expressing the hope of the love of God. Clinging to that future where that hope, as Peter puts it, is an inheritance in heaven for us. And clinging to and proclaiming the infallible, unchanging, sweeping, endless deaths of the love of God in which, often despite ourselves, we are held by His faithful hand in the certainty of hope."

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