Do you ever find yourself wondering if it’s foolish to keep hoping for good things to happen, especially with our world in the state it’s in? Whenever I have this thought, I remind myself that if we stop ourselves from hoping, we cut ourselves off from the creativity that is meant to build what comes next. It’s only by refusing to use the human capacity for hope that we can be truly defeated. On this episode of The Gathering Room, I’m talking about what I call the art of hope, which is both a creative practice and a spiritual one. When you’re hoping but there’s no proof that what you hope for will ever come to pass, there is a temptation to do a spiritual bypass where you just say that you’re in the present moment and don’t care what comes. The problem with that is that we humans were designed to care about what comes!  I firmly believe that there’s not a human group on earth where people don’t hope for wonderful things to happen. Hope is not just an idle longing for more—it’s part of the act of creating a different future.  Sometimes the things we hope for don’t come to pass in the way that we’ve imagined them. But hope without proof is something different—it’s part of the creative arts. And what is coming for you will feel the way you imagine the thing you hope for would feel—but it will be better.  The art of hope is to hope without fear. Hope without fear is faith, and that faith is not hollow because it’s walking out on the word of a consciousness that is somehow part of yourself. There’s something very visceral and plaintive and sweet about hope, something that is uniquely human. You have to surrender to the openness to grief in order to touch that place of hope—that is the art of hope without proof. Whether you’re hoping for green leaves on the trees, a new love, or a brighter future for us all, tune in and we’ll practice the art of hope together—starting with a guided visualization blending gratitude, imagination, and surrender to help you connect with and nurture your hope.  Our hopes—big and small—help create the futures we live into, and the art of hope is a vital, magical part of being human. If you want to become an artist of hope, this episode is for you. Join me!