A Handbook on Hope : Fusing Optimism and Action - Softcover

Gates-mckibbin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1929799039 ISBN 13: 9781929799039

Verlag: McKibbin Publishing, Inc. (1999-10-15), 1999

Inhaltsangabe

Hope derives from the interplay of faith and confidence, both coupled with spirit. To be hopeful is to thrive - not just survive. These short, reassuring essays about living at the intersection of mindfulness and right action will help you forge a more exhilarating and meaningful life.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Gates McKibbin never imagined that after spending twenty years as a corporate executive, management consultant and adjunct college professor specializing in strategic and organizational renewal, she would publish messages channeled from her deceased father, John McKibbin. For most of her adult life she had balanced a fulfilling professional career and a fascinating spiritual quest. Then quite unexpectedly her father, who visited the earth plane frequently after his death, began sending telepathic messages for her to write in her journal.

Three years and six books later, Gates has now added "Inspirational author and speaker" to her resume. She still helps business executives navigate turbulent change, and she also seeds the planet with insights from the spirit world. To complement the LifeLines Library, Gates has developed a collection of thematic LifeLines note pads featuring her favorite one-liners from the books.

Born and raised in central Illinois, Gates now resides in San Francisco. Whenever she has a few hours of free time, she hunts for vintage jackets, walks to North Beach restaurants for risotto, creates bead-bedecked greeting cards and, of course, continues her journal writing. Gates holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois and has received numerous academic awards, among them Phi Beta Kappa.

Gates is available for television and radio interviews, book signings, inspirational speeches and experiential workshops. She can be contacted via e-mail at gmck@ix.netcom.com.

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A Message from A Handbook on Hope

Optimism is not a function of having things go well. If it were dependent on good fortune, it would be hollow indeed. Nor is optimism the superficial display of positive pretense and good cheer when inwardly you are feeling the opposite. That optimism is shallow, if it exists to any degree at all.

Two people can experience the same set of circumstances and emerge from them one a pessimist and one an optimist. How can that be so?

It all depends on how they perceive both what is going on and the broader context in which it is being played out. One person may notice only what is wrong or what could go wrong. The other may focus on what is working or has the potential of working. If you follow what each person envisions based on the same data or input, you will see that one spells failure and the other success.

If that is the case, then you may think that optimism and pessimism are a function of perception, not spirit. But what makes a person optimistic or pessimistic? Fundamentally it is habit - the habit of making sense of what is occurring by using assumptions that are either spirit-based or not.

* In conversations do you focus on what is coming to fruition or what is not?
* Do you worry often about what could go wrong or what is likely to work out well?
* Are you afraid that you will fail, or do you expect to succeed?
* Do you affirm your strengths more than your weaknesses?
* Do you see the accomplishment of your goal as being a process of small successes, or do you envision it as being marked by pitfalls and potholes?
* Do you see yourself thriving or surviving?

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Hope

Hope is born of spirit and sustained by optimism and action. It is the rooted faith that no matter how challenging your immediate circumstances, there is a path through and beyond them.

Consider what these two sentences imply:
* People face trials in life, some of them quite formidable.
* Those trials cannot simply be willed away; rather, they must be addressed realistically.
* There is a path that goes through - not around - them and leads to the other side of the problem.
* To follow this path, you must take one step, then another; action is required.
* The catalyst for each step is faith that spirit will guide one's actions, coupled with the confidence that those actions are both possible and potentially effective.

There have been times in your life when your hopes have been idle. You said, "I hope to . . . " but did nothing. There was no change. Why say such a thing? Hoping without acting does nothing to create a desired reality. Declarations of hope that are unsupported by actions are futile because they ignore the spirit in which true hope dwells.

At other times you said, "There is no hope . . ." when in actuality there was, but you failed to recognize it or take action toward it. Your statement was an assertion that spirit did not dwell in the circumstances you were facing. That is never the case.

There is always reason to hope. Where there is spirit, there is hope.

Spirit is everywhere. Hope is everywhere as well.

To be hopeful is to reaffirm spirit. To act on hope is to reaffirm your faith in spirit. And to reaffirm your faith in spirit, no matter what external circumstances you face, is to move closer to God.

Hopeful

Most people think of hope as an elusive aspect of their lives - something that comes and goes without warning and over which they have little control. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Hope is a function of your conscious thought and overt actions. You are hopeful when you think positively about a situation and take steps to create it in your life. You are hopeless when you believe that the outcome will be less than what you want. Thus, you take no step toward a more positive result.

You have a hand in constructing most of the circumstances that surround you. Even when you do nothing at all to produce them, your inaction can influence the outcome as much as your active participation.

Furthermore, you cannot create what you cannot envision or what you do not believe is possible. Your thought patterns and attitudes about potentialities in your life can be either catalysts for change or barriers to it.

If you want to nurture hope, fuel your faith that spirit exists in all situations. If you want to actualize faith in spirit, behave as if your hope were an observable part of your reality and not just an ephemeral wish.

Envision and expect light to radiate from all aspects of your existence. Assume that the light is obvious to everyone. Know that every individual who may influence the matter adopts the belief that, "Well, of course we are aligned in purpose and in love."

Are you thinking, "What a nave thing to do! How often is that the case? I would be steamrollered if I took that stance under some circumstances."? Such thoughts leave you less hopeful than you could be.

Believe the following: Love exists everywhere because God is everywhere. Your material reality may make it more difficult to recognize that love is there, but it does not obliterate the presence of love. It just veils it. There is a big difference between removing and obscuring spirit.

To assume that love is present in every case is not nave. Love arises from the most palpable reality: the presence of God. Love does not make you vulnerable; it enhances your strength and influence. To love when others do not is to recognize spirit where others do not. To act from a base of love when others do not is to see God where others do not.

To act from a base of love is to be hopeful when others are hopeless.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: McKibbin Publishing, Inc. (1999-10-15)
• Erscheinungsdatum: 1999
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1929799039
• ISBN 13: 9781929799039
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar